Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock #teaching 01/16/2012

Cool Cat Teacher Blog where remarkable teachers learning about teaching
  • LitWorld – An International Non-Profit Advocating for and Working Towards Global Literacy – Words Changing Worlds – World Read Aloud Day

    World Read aloud day is March 7. Join in and help them make a million participants this year.

    tags: education teaching lessonplans literature_teacher

  • Permission to Go Off Lesson Plans | Innovation and Learning Cohort

    Teacher Karl Schaefer is brave and deviates from a lesson plan that has always worked and has students remix a cartoon for learning about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I had never heard of Pixton but there are a lot of cartoon makers out there.

    “So I took a slight risk and decided to tryout the Pixton for Schools accounts I had purchased as I wanted to try something different. I knew I was onto something when students began to remix the assigned comic and were saying how it was awesome, fun and the best thing they had done.”

    tags: education teaching lessonplans history teacherpreneur

  • Self-esteem boosting losing favor in schools

    Good teachers have always known that empty praise produces empty results. Praise students for the work they do as well as for producing results. There is a fine line here, but the truth is, not everyone deserves praise in every classroom. Just know that students should be given genuine praise from honest observations. Great article for all teachers and principals to read. Glad to see we’re having more common sense in this area.

    “Now, an increasing number of teachers are weaning themselves from what some call empty praise. Drawing on psychology and brain research, these educators aim to articulate a more precise, and scientific, vocabulary for praise that will push children to work through mistakes and take on more challenging assignments. Consider teacher Shar Hellie’s new approach in Montgomery County, Md.

    To get students through the shaky first steps of Spanish grammar, Hellie spent many years trying to boost their confidence. If someone couldn’t answer a question easily, she would coach him, whisper the first few words, then follow up with a booming “!Muy bien!”

    But on a January morning at Rocky Hill Middle School, the smiling grandmother gave nothing away. One seventh-grade boy returned to the overhead projector three times to rewrite a sentence, hesitating each time, while his classmates squirmed in silence.

    “You like that?” Hellie asked when he settled on an answer. He nodded. Finally, she beamed and praised the progress he was making — in his cerebral cortex.

    “You have a whole different set of neurons popping up there!” she told him.

    A growing body of research over three decades shows that easy, unearned praise does not help students but instead interferes with significant learning opportunities. As schools ratchet up academic standards for all students, new buzzwords are “persistence,” “risk-taking” and “resilience” — each implying more sweat and strain than fuzzy, warm feelings.”

    tags: education news teaching

  • Science Teachers in the Freezer

    These science teachers went to Antarctica to perform science experiments. One is about the effects of cold on the human body and how our bodies react to cold. The other is their quest for lichens. It also shares the importance of recording data accurately. I like it that these teachers explain it so simply.

    tags: science experiments scientific method video teaching

  • Secondary Maths – Topic Special: Solving Linear Equations – Resources – TES

    Resources to teach students how to solve linear equations. If this is something that your students struggle with, look at these lesson plans and activities that you can download and use. Sometimes you need a different approach.

    tags: education algebra math teaching lessonplans

  • Ask Shakespeare February 2, 2011 – Resources – TES

    This will be a fascinating Twitter-centric event on February 2nd. Sign up now to participate.

    “Organised by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Ask Shakespeare is a one day, online event taking place on February 2, 2011. From the SBT: “On 2, February 2011 we are asking Shakespeare organisations, enthusiasts and scholars and professionals worldwide to sign up and join us on the Ask Shakespeare panel through their twitter accounts. On February 2, 2011 this panel will be ready to answer your Shakespeare questions.” If you would like to represent TES English on the Ask Shakespeare panel, please message me.”

    tags: teaching education shakespeare engchat

  • Martin Luther King, Jr. – Resources – TES

    A list of popular lesson plans and resources on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with downloads, presentations, and lesson plans.

    tags: teaching lessons civilrights martinlutherking

  • Hungry Caterpillar Games – Resources – TES

    IF you love the Hungry Caterpillar in your classroom, you will enjoy these math activities built on the hungry caterpillar. Printables and a game.

    tags: education teaching lessonplans math elemchat elementary_teacher

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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Picture of Vicki Davis

Vicki Davis

Vicki Davis has been an educator and IT director in Georgia since 2002. Today, she also works as an instructional technology coach, staying side-by-side with active teachers and students so her work stays grounded in real classrooms.

She's a mom of three, wife of one, and loves talking about the wise, transformational use of technology for teaching and doing good in the world.

She has blogged at the Cool Cat Teacher Blog since 2005 and hosts the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast and Cool Cat Teacher Talk (radio, public access TV, YouTube, and all major podcast platforms), interviewing remarkable educators around the world. Vicki focuses on what unites us — a quest for truly remarkable, life-changing teaching and learning. The goal of her work is to provide actionable, encouraging, relevant ideas for teachers, grounded in truth and shared with love.

If you talk to Vicki for long, she'll encourage you to "Relate to Educate," to "innovate like a turtle," or to be "a remarkable teacher." She loves homemade sourdough bread and cinnamon rolls and runs half marathons with her sisters. You can usually find her laughing with her students or digging into a book.

Thank you for reading, sharing, and telling your friends about the work we do here! - Vicki

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Classroom teacher Vicki Davis writes The Cool Cat Teacher Blog for remarkable educators everywhere