Associated Colleges of Illinois: Mentor Online

10. Not every student will be interested every minute.

9. If a lesson is going badly, stop.

8. Teaching will get easier.

7. You do not have to volunteer for everything.

6. Not every student or parent will love you.

5. You cannot be creative in every lesson.

4. No one can manage portfolios, projects, journals, creative writing, and student self-assessment all at the same time and stay sane!

3. Some days you will cry, but the good news is, some days you will laugh! Learn to laugh with your students and at yourself!

2. You will make mistakes. You cannot undo your mistakes, but berating yourself for them is counterproductive. If the mistake requires an apology, make it and move on. No one is keeping score.

1. This is the best job on earth! Stand up straight! Hold your head high! Look people in the eye and proudly announce, “I am a teacher!”

http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=23089

What teachers can do to remain motivated through the end of the year.

http://www.edutopia.org/motivation-final-weeks-school

Math games for students to keep sharp and PD and writing opportunities for you.

http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=23220

Enjoy your last few days!

Mary

Today’s online article from the Christian Science Monitor might be good reminder for all of us who value what we have learned by obtaining our degrees. It is also why we encourage so many students to go on to college to get a degree.

Article Title: In tough times, graduates (and parents) assess the worth of a liberal arts education

http://www.csmonitor.com/ The article is under the Learning Section and I especially like this from Arne Duncan:

“Standing head and shoulders above the others on stage, clad in academic regalia, the former basketball player and superintendent of Chicago’s public schools acknowledged the costs: “With those college loans to pay back, you’re probably wondering, ‘Just how much is a liberal arts education really worth?’ Albert Einstein said the value of a liberal arts education is not to learn facts, but to train your mind to think about things that cannot be learned from textbooks. So now you’re probably wondering why you spent all that money on textbooks. The point is not that the facts are useless; it’s just that the facts alone don’t make you educated. It’s how you put those facts together and what you do with them that matters. The real value of a liberal arts education is that it teaches you … how to analyze a situation and make a choice.”

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) the leading organization advancing SEL as central to K-12 education, helped write the Illinois standards. Located right here in Illinois, this international organization has a web site packed with information for teachers, principals, and parents. Visit CASEL at www.casel.org

Researchers believe that by providing students with good social and emotional learning opportunities it will help them to be better students, lead better lives, and be better citizens of the world. Below you will find a few centers with resources for educators on Social and Emotional Learning, a great article from Edutopia and a link to our Illinois State Standards on social and emotional learning. What are you doing in your schools that addresses this issue?—Enjoy–Donna

The NYU Child Study Center has a great introduction and definition of Social and Emotional Learning, as well as a number of tips for parents and teachers to integrate into a child’s learning through life.

Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning from Vanderbilt also have a wonderful selection of resources from training materials, videos and print resources for parents, teachers, trainers and coaches. “The center is focused on promoting the social emotional development and school readiness of young children birth to age 5. CSEFEL is a national resource center funded by the Office of Head Start and Child Care Bureau for disseminating research and evidence-based practices to early childhood programs across the country.”

The Center for Social and Emotional Education states “Our goal is to promote positive and sustained school climate: a safe, supportive environment that nurtures social and emotional, ethical, and academic skills. CSEE is an organization that helps schools integrate crucial social and emotional learning with academic instruction. In doing so, we enhance student performance, prevent drop outs, reduce physical violence, bullying, and develop healthy and positively engaged adults.”
And the site contains a variety of services, programs and links to other agencies and resources for educators.

Illinois State Board of Educaiton: Illinois Learning Standards has section on Social and Emotional Learning complete with Goals as stated below:
http://www.isbe.state.il.us/ils/social_emotional/standards.htm
* Goal 1 - Develop self-awareness and self-management skills to achieve school and life success.
* Goal 2 - Use social-awareness and interpersonal skills to establish and maintain positive relationships.
* Goal 3 - Demonstrate decision-making skills and responsible behaviors in personal, school, and community context.

Edutopia has some interesting Core Concepts for Social and Emotional Learning
http://www.edutopia.org/social-emotional-learning

Every summer we would take a family vacation in our station wagon. There were four kids and two parents and all the suitcases and food in this wagon. Kathy and I had the way back where no air conditioning flowed and the only wind came from my older brothers ahead of us. One of my most favorite memories was the summer I had to learn my times tables. I have never been very good at math and so my mother knew I had better learn them in the summer because there was no way I was going to learn them during the school year. Being the youngest, all the older kids were allowed to show me flash cards and it was my job to get it right. If my answer was correct my reward ranged from candy to a good remark and if I got it wrong, well let’s just say my brothers could at times be less then kind. They were never cruel but it encouraged me to go through the cards again and again until I had them committed to memory. That whole trip I was badgered with the tables, even at the pool or at dinner or standing in line at an amusement park. So, it is summer and there are students out there who need to learn their times tables or parts of speech or improve their reading skills. We need to help them get ahead to avoid failure and encourage enjoyment. Here are a few websites that may help them to make the most of their time off.

25 Activities to Keep Kid’s Brains Active in the Hot Summer Sun from Education World

Times Table Flash Cards from Activity Village

Summer Reading Resources From Family Education.com

Top Ten Skills to Teach Your Kids
this Summer

The SAT Prep Plan

Education World’s Summer Reading Lists Abound on the Web

What a beautiful day in Chicago today! Go out and enjoy our Earth! And remember to celebrate the beauty of this big round ball in space on Earth Day, April 22nd, 2009. Below you will find a few selected webpages to help you find an appropriate activity for your curriculum.

The Wilderness Society’s Teacher’s Lounge

Education World ~ Earth Day

EarthDay. Gov Links Portal for U.S. Government Events & Information

An idea for next year is Earth Day in the Parks from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources

Teachers.net letter and links for Earth Day

PBS Teacher’s Earth Day Activity Pack

Now here’s some controversy. In Plano, Texas, they are not going to grade down for cheating, late assignments, or some homework. Wow, if we in education are not focusing on punishing how will we spend our time? Before you know it we’ll be concentrating on actual learning! And then all Illinois politicians will be honest. We’re all going to hell in a handbasket.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/040809dnmetplanograding.3f3fbb8.html

Christy

There is a new kid in town named Shmoop and I think I like her/him. It is a new site that aims to make learning fun in the fields of history and literature. I have not looked at everything in the site but what I have seen is pretty good and would probably be very useful to the jr. high and high school crowd. http://www.shmoop.com and a version of the site designed for teachers http://www.shmoop.com/teachers. I liked their browsers, screen readability, and links to other resources. The citation generator was a bonus. Take it for a test drive and get back to me. Hope you all have a sunshine filled holiday weekend! –Donna

History Resources:

Best of History Websites http://www.besthistorysites.net/

Early Manuscripts at Oxford University
Digital facsimiles of complete manuscripts, scanned directly from the originals
http://image.ox.ac.uk/

Pinceton University Library History Resources http://www.princeton.edu/~pressman/history.htm

American Women’s History “American Women’s History is designed to assist serious researchers, such as history professors, independent scholars, graduate students, and possibly upper-division undergraduates. Many of the Digital Collections of Primary Sources are appropriate for high school and perhaps middle school students. Coverage includes reference and primary sources in more than 75 topical areas, ranging from “African-American Women” to “World War II.”

The History Guy: A Resource on Military History, World Conflicts, American Politics, and Biography.

The World Wide Web Virtual Library History Links and More

Reference Desk.com http://www.refdesk.com/facthist.html

Science Resources:

Bill Nye the Science Guy

National Science Education Standards In print and ready to read!

Exploratorium’s Hands-On Activities

Science Netlinks Science NetLinks is part of Thinkfinity, a partnership between the Verizon Foundation and 11 premier educational organizations. ” The Thinkfinity partnership provides free, Internet-based content across academic disciplines. Science NetLinks’ role is to provide a wealth of standards-aligned resources for K-12 science educators, including lesson plans, interactives and reviewed Internet resources. Science NetLinks is a dynamic site with new content being added on a regular basis, so check back often.”

The Library of Congress “Every Day Mysteries”

The National Academies “The National Academies perform an unparalleled public service by bringing together committees of experts in all areas of scientific and technological endeavor. These experts serve pro bono to address critical national issues and give advice to the federal government and the public. Four organizations comprise the Academies: the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council.”
Podcasts

Classroom Earth is an online resource designed to help high school teachers include environmental content into their daily lesson plans.

NASA For Educators “NASA’s Education Materials Finder will help teachers locate resources that can be used in the classroom. Users may search by keywords, grade level, product type and subject. With hundreds of publications and Web sites indexed, the finder is the best way to locate NASA educational resources.”

National Science Digital Library “is the Nation’s online library for education and research in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics.

Science News for Kids: Websites for Teachers

The Internet Public Library Science and Technology Resources

Food Science Resources:

Institute of Food Technologists

United States Food and Drug Administration Food Safety for Kids, Teens, and Educators

BBC: Ever Wondered About Food?

Visual Fun:

Leonard’s Cam World

Teachers’ Domain Discipline: Science. “Do you want to broaden your knowledge of science content and effective inquiry-based methodologies? Teachers’ Domain offers over 1,500 media resources in science, engineering, and technology as well as standards-based professional development courses in Physical, Life, and Earth Sciences. Teachers’ Domain is an online library of more than 1,000 free media resources from the best in public television. These classroom resources, featuring media from NOVA, Frontline, Design Squad, American Experience, and other public broadcasting and content partners are easy to use and correlate to state and national standards. Teachers’ Domain resources include video and audio segments, Flash interactives, images, documents, lesson plans for teachers, and student-oriented activities. Once you register, you can personalize the site using “My Folders” and “My Groups” to save your favorite resources into a folder and share them with your colleagues or students.”

Cable in the Classroom “Innovative use of technology and media can leverage the learning process dramatically. This Web site provides a staggering array of tools and resources that can help. The following information is designed to help you navigate what’s available here. Find Video & Online Content for Classroom Use. Dive into the vast storehouse of video and online content here at Cable in the Classroom. It can help you and your students make meaningful connections to new information, reinforce previous learning, interact with other learners, and create original content.”

Space Time T.V. suupported by PBS