Angela Maiers Educational Services

Chalk Talk - 11/13/09

Chalk Talk Friday represents conversations and brilliance I've discovered traversing my way through the Blogosphere.  From professional to personal development, these are the posts and links have in some way touched my head or my heart

• Whether you're just getting started or a seasoned vet, here's a fantastic listing of Web 2.0 Literacy tools
• The Common Craft team has issued another super-simple video lesson -- Cloud Computing in Plain English
• Kevin Jarrett  and Kelley Tenkley introduce us to a Cool Tool -- Picture Book Maker.  Write the book, then print the book!
• "What you scatter is more important than what you gather." - Just one of the important tips in 6 Ways to be More Creative than Thomas Edison on Acid
• For your weekend viewing, Mashable presents the 7 of the Most Inspiring Videos on the Web

Happy Learning!

Together We Are Smarter. What's Your Take? Comment Here.

Learning Now via Passionate Teaching

Image by Old Shoe Woman via Flickr

"The Game of School is very pervasive, and its rituals are deeply entrenched in the actions and expectations of students and teachers. But it is not immutable. It can and must be changed." - Robert Fried in The Passionate Teacher

Fried also suggests we can 'stimulate the students’ imaginations and mental energy', 'to do ourselves [exactly] what we ask the students to do', and 'a teacher who anticipates creativity and hidden talents in the students will greet the class quite differently to one who looks for deficits and defects.'

An opening routine starting the day, something engaging the mind and sending the message how we are serious and excited about learning. Calling it "LEARNING NOW", it's a way I coach teachers to start each day, setting the stage for the rest of the day, and engages the whole classroom as a community of learners.

As students walk into the classroom, the following opening question is posted:

What have you learned since yesterday?

Students write, sketch, or draw and label a diagram in their thinking notebooks or even blog about their recent learning. We spend the next few minutes sharing what we have learned, discovered, read, seen, heard, viewed in the last 24 hours of our learning lives. During the Learning Now Daily Opening, students share learning like:

1. Tonight, if the New York Yankees win, they will win their 27th World Championship!
2. Did you know that if you put your jack-o-lantern outside, bugs live in it? 
3. I learned that metal is edible while reading Ripley's Believe It or Not.

We know that by the time you read this, none of this will be "new" to you. In fact, few things on the list may be new at all, but what the LEARNING NOW opening clearly illustrates is how much there is to know and how much the world is changing and will continue to change. And the world will change a whole lot more by the time you finish reading this post.

Why do we start the day with this routine? Learning is not an endeavor just for school. It is learning that fuels our lives. It brings the outside to the inside of the classroom and vice versa. Learning is perpetual, continuous, and requires us to be active. Learning – as we know it, and as we wish our students to know it - is infectious and contagious. It is PASSION-DRIVEN!  Passion-driven learning is not contained in boxes, covered in textbooks and will not be reduced to checks on a list. It must be experienced.

The LEARNING NOW daily opening does more than allow students a context to share tidbits of cool information. It's all about the inquiry and conversation. LEARNING NOW also:

• models the changing nature of information landscape. Students see that every day something new is discovered, uncovered, and created.
• positions us in the role we strive for; master learner. As Chief learning officer of the classroom, we have a responsibility to show students that we have the literacies and fortitude to continuously pursue learning. 
• Ignites critical Inquiry. The morning sharing inevitably leads to follow-up questions like...

• How/Where did you find that?
• Who told you?
• How do you know it is true?
• Could we do that too?
• What if?
• Is that really true?
• What do we need to know to do that???
• leading us into demonstrations of how we sift, sort, prioritize, and take action on knowledge
• Highlights the capacity of the community and the power of global networks of committed people working together to solve the worlds problems
• Showcase the extraordinary power of technology to make real things once only imagined become reality.
  

The Learning Now opening not only lights a spark of excitement and energy, it sets the tone, the expectation, and it extends the invitation to "Join the Learning Club, ' which is how we frame the rest of the day as we spend our time together figuring out how to make sense of this amazing world and the people that inhabit it. How far can we take it? 

Together We Are Smarter. What's Your Take? Comment Here.

Two Powerful Words: I NOTICE

A teacher's language is a powerful teaching tool. Our language can build children up or tear them down. It can model respectful and caring social interactions or just the opposite. Effective language encourages and supports students in their learning, rather than criticizing them for their mistakes.  Effective teacher language also:

• Is clear, simple, and direct

• Is genuine and respectful

• Gives specific positive feedback rather than general praise

• Focuses on the child's action or behavior rather than generalizing about the child's whole person

• Avoids qualitative or personal judgment

• Shows faith in childrens abilities and potential

Once, I began to use the encouraging phrase "I notice" every time I saw appropriate behaviors, specifically identifying what I saw. Other encouraging phrases that I wrote in my plan book were "I hear…" and "I see…"

I also put key phrases up on the wall to help me remember the language I wanted to use. For example, I posted empowering phrases such as "Show me…," and "Remind me…" I involved the children in this process by telling them I was trying to learn a better way to talk to them and how the phrases on the wall were like notes to myself.

I encouraged the children to help me during this period of change. I said, "You can use these phrases with each other and remind me when I need to use them." I also tape-recorded myself and reviewed the tapes, analyzing my tone and words and the responses. In other words, I became proactive: I thought before I spoke, I practiced, reflected, and self-corrected.

The comment centered on my favorite quote from the movie Shall We Dance [I just noticed the subtitle: "A new comedy about following your own lead"], uttered by the character Susan Sarandon as Beverly Clark (emphasis mine):

"We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet... I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things... all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness'."

Although the quote is referring to marriage, I think the need of a human being to be noticed, to be witnessed, to matter, is behind much of the popularity in all social media, and is captured - or projected - most acutely in Twitter. I don't mean to equate the Twitter follower / followee relationship with marriage - indeed, with most Twitter users having multiple followers and/or followees, this would be akin to an extreme case of polygamy - but I do believe that this quote captures the spirit of the ambient intimacy afforded by Twitter (and intended by its designers).

T.S. Eliot, sums this up in a quote that is short enough to fit in a Twitter post (or "tweet"):

To be of importance to others is to be alive.

Use your eyes. Say "I Notice" you. Watch kids come to life.

Together We Are Smarter. What's Your Take? Comment Here.

Chalk Talk - 11/06/09

Chalk Talk Friday represents conversations and brilliance I've discovered traversing my way through the Blogosphere.  From professional to personal development, these are the posts and links have in some way touched my head or my heart

• The Complete Guide to Google Wave - I think this is going to be a great, real-time collaborative tool (and there's more than that under the hood).
• More Google, this time Google Fusion Tables - possibly the next best assessment tool.
• A great wiki full of resources on Student Engagement
• 6 Fantastic Resources for Twitter in Education by my pal, Dr. Z
• 7 Bad Writing Habits You (Probably) Learned in School - some of these may not actually be taught, but rather because of perceived expectations. Still, once recognized -- we may become better teachers and writers reading this piece

Together We Are Smarter. What's Your Take? Comment Here.

Who has the Acronym pedia?

They help me learn, they assist me in teaching. I know some teachers have a love/hate relationship with acronyms.  Truth be told -- I love, love, love acronyms.

How do you use acronyms, particularly acronym creating in your classrooms?  And does anyone have an Acronym-pedia?  An Acronymtionary?  Wouldn't that be a fun project?

Here's a recent acronym I used to help explain how to G.R.O.W. learners (more on how I used it in a different piece):

GROW

View more presentations from angelamaiers.

What's your favorite acronym and how do you use it?

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Who Are Their Learning Heroes -- and Why?

Image via Wikipedia

In my years as a classroom teacher -- busy with planning instruction, creating lessons, addressing a standard -- it is only after exploring learning success in a broader sense, that I really understood how to teach students to be successful learners and not just wish it upon them.

By understanding the anatomy of those who have achieved success, it has allowed me to turn encouragement into action and instruction.

For the successful learner, learning is not the end -- but the process they use to achieve goals and the feeling of pride and satisfaction in their accomplishments.  Learning literally has a different feel for them. It is not just a matter of going to school, listening to the teacher, and completing assignments on time. Not measured Instead, learning springs from within; is felt in their minds and hearts.

The successful learner is someone who learns how to learn in the fullest sense of the word.  They are heroes because they have taken their given talents and strengths and combined them with hard work, ambition, attitude to get where they are going.

One of the things I do with students is to have them build a dream team of thinkers and doers. Learning Heroes. While none of us can really be "like Mike" - we can find out and emulate

• work ethic
• study habits
• thought process
• energy focus
• other behavioral practices 

and whatever else it took that allowed Mr. Jordan to be "like Mike."

An example I give of my own is Albert Einstein. I love his thirst for knowledge, his practice of questioning, his child-like look at life, and his exuberance for discovery (think shoe shopping!)

Try it with your kids. Let them find their hero(s) -- their choice, not yours. Take your time with this exercise. Once they pick their hero(s), have them dive into what made them tick - and what made them successful.

I'll never be like Albert in my results - but I can be "like Albert" in my habits of learning -- by emulating the habits of his learning.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Why You Didn't Learn to Run a Business in School (myventurepad.com)
• The Power of Questioning & Seth Godin on Curiosity (angelamaiers.com)
• Are You Willing to Learn? (somefoo.net)
• Are Your Students in Charge of Their Own Questioning? (angelamaiers.com)

Together We Are Smarter. What's Your Take? Comment Here.

Training like Champions

To Be a Champion, You Must Train Like a Champion"
-Author Unknown-

Every successful learner knows that if you want to be good at something, find someone who is better and learn from them. This timeless model of apprentice has been a successful training secret of all who have reached greatness. Even our wisest recognize the power of effective modeling; Aristotle kept a picture of Plato on his wall for guidance and inspiration.

I have studied winning champions and heroes from every field. Great philosophers and world leaders, professional athletes and top business executives, parents and teachers to reveal the secrets to their great success and achievements. You may be asking what an Olympic athletes gold medal or a scientist’s discovery has to do with teaching reading comprehension strategies, and my response is everything!

Success in reading is made of the same principles and ideals that success in all walks of life entails. With the breakthroughs in medical science, these invaluable pieces of wisdom have been confirmed through hard science. We are training the next generation of champions who will seek out positions of leadership and expertise. Whether their path leads them to world greatness or personal contentment, these traits of success are ageless and timeless and offer for our students hope and support in all they seek to accomplish. As teachers we seek personal, social, spiritual, and academic championship for our students. Learning how champions operate can guide us in supporting our student’s abilities to get there.

The difference between a successful learner and a learner who struggles does not lie in a score or percentile, but within the habits and attitudes -- Habitudes -- each learner possesses. Information that can guide you and the students in your classroom to true learning success may be found within the answers to the following questions. Take a few minutes to reflect upon them from both a teacher and a learners’ perspective. 

How would you respond to the following as a reader and a learner?

• How do successful learners define success?
• What is the most important thing you do to grow yourself as a learner?
• What do successful learners do that make them successful?
• What do successful learners do to maximize their efficiency?
• What hinders your success as a learner?
• What do you do to get over that obstacle?
• What do successful learners do when they are not motivated?
• What do successful learners do when they do not know the subject well?
• How does your attitude affect you as a learner?
• What do you attribute for your learning success?

Which question(s) strike home for your learning and teaching?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Reading WITHOUT Meaning - The Conversation Continues (angelamaiers.com)
• Recipe for Learning Success: I DO, YOU DO, WE DO (angelamaiers.com)

Together We Are Smarter. What's Your Take? Comment Here.

Reflections Of Octoberings

I like to use the transition of the monthly calendar  as a way to look back at the previous month's best posts (and the years before that) 

October 2009

• Are Your Students in Charge of Their Own Questioning?
• Professional Learning Together
• Discussion: Is Curiosity Valued in Your Classroom?
• IdeaPaint: Let Your Students Make Their Mark

October 2008

• Be Fearless!
• Poverty of Funds of Knowledge?
• Reading as an Act of Engagement
• Classroom Habitudes: Teaching 21st Century Learning Habits and Attitudes

October 2007

• Listen to Writing
• Reflecting on Reflection
• On Fire for Learning

Together We Are Smarter. What's Your Take? Comment Here.

Chalk Talk - 10/30/09

Chalk Talk Friday represents conversations and brilliance I've discovered traversing my way through the Blogosphere.  From professional to personal development, these are the posts and links have in some way touched my head or my heart

• Why Content is No Longer King (And Who is Taking His Place) - An excellent piece at CopyBlogger. An excellent read for both writing and reading
• A new study shows the Top Reasons People Go Online. Look at four of the top five. Points towards Learning, yes?
• The Anytime, Anywhere Learning Foundation site is rich with ideas and resources for building 21st Century Literacy programs
• Same goes for the Internet4Classrooms Project Sites page
• KnowClue's Building Literacy for a Visually Rich World is a great resources for Media Literacy learning

Together We Are Smarter. What's Your Take? Comment Here.

21st Century Education - What Will It Take?

The answer to that elusive question may be just a few pages (or clicks) away. 

A recent edition of Education Leadership is dedicated to helping you begin the conversation. The ENTIRE September issue (yes, that's right!) of Education Leadership: Teaching for the 21st Century  is a MUST READ for every school administrator, school board member, teacher, and parent...preferably side by side, so the conversations can be even more impacting.

I bring this issue everywhere I travel. It's that good (and that important). You can read it all online here. Enjoy!!!

I will be sharing how the articles have shaped conversations within the education and business world over the next several weeks. I would love to hear how these conversations are being mediated in your world! Do share!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Sir Ken Robinson on Education and Creativity (brainandlearning.blogspot.com)
• Mae Jemison: The arts and sciences are not separate (presentationzen.com)
• Is the Future Misguided? Are You? (ariwriter.com)
• What's your Element? (knowledgefordevelopment.com)
• Book Review: The Element (ericbrown.com)
• TED and Reddit ask Sir Ken Robinson absolutely anything! (ted.com)
• 10 Questions for Ken Robinson (hermenaut.org)

Together We Are Smarter. What's Your Take? Comment Here.