Steering in a Sky of... Word Clouds

I know of the existence of word clouds (our university's iKnow program has a link, which can be used, I suppose - but quite honestly only one of my teachers for the past four semesters has used it).

In a tweet by Dr. M. Tatum to the site http://unhub.com/gBPh, one teacher compares four different word cloud tools.  Each seems to be a good and different variant for brainstorming with reading, literature, etc activities.

Can these be integrated into the classroom?  Yes, if a teacher thinks to do so.  Are they any more helpful?  Is it really any more effective to include a word cloud in a lesson?  To have students create their own word clouds?

Yes and no.  For instance, this could just be a phenomenal waste of time.  We could play around on our computers, spend hours "brainstorming" activities and never actually do anything.  Or we could only use word clouds for such miniscule activities that do not warrant that much of our attention.
But I think that's unfair.  After all, a blackboard is just as un-useful to a teacher who does not care enough to prepare and provide good and helpful tools for students' learning.

After reading a Shakespeare play, each student could send a word describing themes to create a word cloud.  They could quite literally see the main themes.  Divide the students into groups and have each come up with proofs for each theme.  Or you can choose a couple of main themes and assign an essay writing on it.

The possibilities are endless to a mind open to opportunity.

Learning Styles... Or Teaching Styles?

It's not terrifically surprising that teachermagazine on twitter provides some interesting and helpful articles.
"Teacher in a Strange Land" by Nancy Flanagan is proof of that.
Ms. Flanagan brings up an interesting point - our perception about different learning styles may be a little off base.  In a testing of learning styles of middle school students, the majority of boys showed themselves to be kinesthetic learners.  She poses a retort: "they'd rather be shooting baskets than bubbling in a scantron sheet."

We may or may not believe in different learning styles (especially what students tell us they might be).
We do know, however, if we ask any experienced teachers, that the more (and more different) ways we can present information the better our students will learn.

Once again, students' learning depends on how much we as teachers are willing to put our time and effort towards!

Giving to the Gifted

I was in a gifted program when I was in middle and high school.  It was definitely one of the best parts of my week, actually.  Not only did we do many creative and different activities, we also learned more and learned deeper about different subjects.  I can still remember taking a field trip to Indian mounds after studying about all the different tribes in the US.  We took back flint arrow heads, triumphant after having walked  the same ground as the Indians we ahd studied of.

Mr. Tatum posted a brief article/announcement on his twitter about schools in Texas providing hands-on learning for their gifted programs.  These educators find they need to "work hard to keep up with such students."

What an exciting adventure to embark upon!  To provide lessons that come alive to students - that they can feel and smell and hold!

We can learn much from schools that are trying to improve themselves!

Fly Away!

The other day as I was exploring Twitter, I came across a tweet from one of my teachers, Dr. E. Marvin about google maps.  

It sparked my interest because he included WWII (one usually associates modern locations with google maps).

"WWII HIstorical Imagery in Google Earth" is a pretty exciting article about maps (I know, I know... they're usually boring, right?)

But this one has photos taken from the years 1935-1945 set next to today's images.

There is a marked difference (and I'm not talking about color photography).

What a great way to teach kids about the WWII's battles as well as the encouraging thought that we can still rebuild what was "shrapnell"ed so many years ago?

Imagine this:

Kids climb on board your planes (known on other days as mere desks).

Buckle in.  

Pull on your flying helmet.

Tie your scarf tight.

First we're flying back into time.

Do you see these pictures, kids?  They're from a long time ago, probably from when your grandparents were just babies...

 

http://www.wingdamage.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/review-wii-sports-resort-air-sports.jpg

2 Hours and 11 Kleenexes Later

I have seen I am Sam.  I sat on the couch and cried through most of the movie.  I'm fairly certain my fiance's shirt sleeve is considerably damper than it was earlier in the evening...

I am emotionally exhausted at this moment, yet at the same time uplifted.

What a heart wrenchingly beautiful story of a mentally retarded man and his daughter Lucy - his fight for custody.

He may not have the brains of a rocket scientist but he knows how to be exactly the daddy Lucy needs simply because he loves her.  This is a movie that speaks to the depths of human character because it speaks the simplest, yet most profound language ever known: love.

It seems like such a simple task.  To love someone.

And yet, it is so hard.

How can his lawyer Rita love her son Willie?  She is so wrapped up in her work and not having enough time that she cannot help but let her own son slip away from her life!  How can her husband love her?  He's lost his love and replaced her with someone else, leaving Rita feeling empty, lacking, not good enough.

They have failed in the most important part of life.

Mr. Turner, the prosecutor in favor of sending Lucy to a foster family, also cannot see that Sam has the most sought after and rare gift a parent can have.  Instead, he asks essentially the same question over and over again: "how can you help Lucy when she's already smarter than you?"

He doesn't realize that parenting, that family, is not about knowing the multiplication tables.  It's not about being able to tutor your child in history.  There's something much more fundamental.

When at the stand, Sam's simplicity of thought is canonized in eloquent wisdom:
"I...
have had a lot
of time, see, to...
think about what it is...
that makes somebody
a good parent...
and it's about constancy...
and it's about...
patience,
and it's about listening...
and it's about
pretending to listen...
even when
you can't listen anymore.
And it's about love,
like she said."

It's about love.

And Lucy has learned this, the msot important lesson possible in life from her mentally retarded father.  She keeps running back to her daddy because she loves him, too.  She's learned that love is a deep and powerful commitment, one that demands patience, constancy, and the determination never to let the rest of the world separate you from that person.

Couldn't we all learn from Sam?  

All you need is love.

3, 2, 1.... Connect!

http://www.the-art-miles-mural-project.org/

The Art Miles is just one good part of a growing trend toward holistic learning in our world today.  Global Collaborative Learning is a way of connecting knowledge to emotions to actions to students worldwide.  Bickley and Carleton’s article “Students Without Borders” is an interesting depiction of what our world in education may soon become with all the advances in technology and speaks directly of this new prospect in the education field.  Schools in Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Israel and other countries have connected their students in virtual classrooms so they can learn about each other’s cultures and histories through interaction instead of just typical instruction.

            How amazing our technological world has become!

            The entire idea behind global collaborative learning is for the student to learn about some other culture, their history (especially how war affects living conditions, stretching even into today’s times), connect with students from that country and create either some artwork to depict their new found knowledge or a care package to send to those students they had met virtually.

            Children won’t even realize they’re learning.

            I see this teaching approach as not only a useful practice but a needed one.  As one student said, “Before the Machinto Project [a specific global collaborative learning project], I never gave the war much thought.  Now that I know someone living in those situations, I feel compassionate toward them.”  We will be able to teach not only knowledge, but also concern and compassion for how war, famine, and other tragedies affect those all around the world.

            However, I foresee this leap in technology becoming an abyss of separation between developed and under developed nations.  How can a country struggling against the horrors of genocide and starvation even fathom buying and using technology to connect with someone in Europe or Canada or elsewhere?  Yet in fact, these are the very people we, as privileged and blessed members of a developed country, need to be aware of. 

            So the question is – how do we connect, not just with those with access to technology, but especially with those whose concerns are much more dire?

            We begin by conquering our ignorance of the world in general.  Learning of what happens in countries like Sudan and Haiti will bring their needs to mind.

            Benevolence and persistence can bring the light of hope to all around the world, while simultaneously lighting our own path.  Surely we all can learn together to love each other and learn more about each other. with the tools we have in hand.

           

Bickley, Mali and JimCarleton.  “Students Without Borders.” Leading & Learning with Technoogy 37.3 (Nov 2009): 20-23. 4 February 2010 .

Talk So They Can Help You

I once talked with a band teacher who told me his secret to happiness as a teacher.

“Make friends with people,” he told me, “but especially make sure you’re friends with the lunch lady, the secretary, and the custodian.”

His meaning is not at first apparent, but the wisdom behind his words soon becomes clear: spending that extra moment to be kind to those who work around you and with you will help you, besides making your life (and theirs) in general a much less stressful series of events.

            When you make time to chat with the lunch lady, she will start to save you extra bread rolls.  She will let you know when your favorite meatball subs are coming every month.  She will give you her best portions.  When you appreciate her work, she appreciates you.

            When you take time to greet the secretary every morning, she learns your name.  If you remember her birthday, she will remember you when it comes time for red tape and forms.  A good secretary on your side can win you any war.  Everyone knows that it’s not really the dean or the principal or the president that runs an office – it’s the secretary!

            And if you love the custodian, the custodian will love you back.  Got teen vomit on hallway 3 outside your door?  The custodian won’t find other duties to do first if you took the time interact with him or her in the past.

            In Arlene Anderson’s article “Can’t We All Just Get Along?” she expresses much the same idea.  She works as her district’s educational technology specialist.  She is the one who speaks “this foreign language of IT” in layman’s terms for the teachers.  She conveys what the teachers are actually asking (and failing to ask coherently, let alone politely) to the IT crew.  It’s a new position that’s growing by leaps and bounds – and causing the education system to grow and improve as well. 

            Essentially, she’s not a technology specialist – she’s a people specialist.  She understands the most fundamental concept of any social group.  In order for anything to be accomplished, we all have to get along.  Most of the problems that the IT crew and the teachers had were generic communication difficulties. 

            Like your mom always told you “Treat others like you want to be treated.”

            It works – wonders can be accomplished.  Even, and especially, for your school.

Anderson, Arlene.  “Can’t We All Just Get Along?”  Learning & Leading with Technology 37.4 (Dec2009): 21-23.  3 February 2010 .