Podcasts
As has become my custom I listened to Truth for Teachers. This week was Episode 114: 7 ways teachers can push past imposter syndrome that had some useful tips for anyone who sometimes gets nervous or anxious about teaching.
Science Friday this week was really great because one of the segments was about mathematicians. I played a part of it for my classes because they talked about how you don't need to be a child prodigy in math to appreciate its beauty. They also mentioned growth mindset, and I was happy for my students to hear that message from someone other than me. As usual, I found all of the segments interesting. I am thankful for Science Friday and I plan to contribute to their campaign because I have already learned so much from them.
Social Media
I was able to spend some time on Twitter and Facebook this week. There aren't as many posts about education as there were at the beginning of the school year. I think other teachers are just as busy as me. On the youcubed facebook page, I came across an Open Letter to Jo Boaler to stop picking on Gifted Kids. It was an interesting read and presented both sides of the argument well. The good news was that many people expressed the opinion that a classroom like the ones Jo Boaler and the youcubians strive for would serve all kinds of learners, including "gifted" ones.
Reading
This week I was able to find time to return to Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You'd Had by Tracy Johnson Yager and it was great to see some more concrete examples of how to apply Mathematical Mindsets to classrooms. From there I found a couple of videos on YouTube by a math teacher who was featured in the book. He took some puzzles designed for toddlers that had countless numbers of configurations. He didn't believe they were countless, so he decided to have his middle school math classes tackle the problem. It was a great example of how math can be found everywhere and the problems are deep and engaging. The students really embraced the challenge and had fun making the video, too.
#IMMOOC
George and Katie had Kayla Delzer as their guest speaker for the last Episode of #IMMOOC. It was so crazy because we are choosing the furniture for the new Middle School building that is in the process of being built so it was very timely to hear about voice and choice for seating. It was great to hear about trusting your own experience as a teacher and not to just rely on research. To value the expertise within yourself. They also talked about how Twitter can be helpful for teachers on the journey, but it doesn't mean teachers who aren't on Twitter are bad. Everyone is on their own journey and it is about doing what is best for students and teachers.
Feeling thankful for all the resources and ideas I have gleaned so far. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Friday, November 17, 2017
Monday, November 13, 2017
Stanford
This was by far my most exciting professional development week!
A colleague and I got to go to Stanford for a Mathematics Mindset conference. It was great to meet teachers from other schools who are in various stages of implementing Jo Boaler's ideas of what math classrooms should be. Here is a link to a poster I am going to put up in my classroom. I made some great connections and heard about exciting results out of San Francisco Unified School District. I am excited to keep evolving as a math teacher! The math camp materials provided lots of activities to use in my classes, and it would be a great curriculum to use at Breakthrough Kent Denver to try to give some DPS students a different math experience in the summer. I was looking for resources to try to help parents see why math education needs to evolve. Jo Boaler recommends that parents take the "How to learn math for Students." which is a free online course. There are also lots of resources for parents on the youcubed.org website. I was also able to get all of the names of the researchers whose work has been used to prove why we need to revolutionize math education. All of the various psychological studies and math metrics argue that removing labels and timed tests will help all students have a better relationship with math and earn higher scores on standardized tests. One of my favorite resources was the film we saw called, "Rethinking Giftedness." The changes I plan to implement immediately come from the idea of Mathematical Freedom. I am starting by changing the way students will record the work we do in class, and giving them access to more resources to solve problems. I get to continue to use online resources from the facebook page associated with this conference. As well as following Jo Boaler and the rest of the community of like-minded educators on Twitter.
Podcasts
I just finished listening to the Science Friday podcast this morning because of being away last week I didn't spend as much time in the car. I liked the idea of promoting science literacy in all classes to teach students how to be critical readers of information. The science news was interesting because scientists have recently identified a new species of Orangutan! I also liked hearing about the microbes as well as snails that could potentially be used for cancer research. Can you tell I was a Biology major?
This week the Truth for Teachers podcast really spoke to me. I often have stress over not doing enough and how to balance work with home life. I need to look into the toolkit, Angela Watson and Dan Tricarico have developed. Dan has a website called the Zen Teacher. It makes me want to re-introduce yoga into my weekly routine. I have now registered to get the email when they start the new group for the 40-hour work week club.
#IMMOOC
This recording of the YouTube live discussion with George Couros, Katie Martin, and Dwight_Carter was about Part 3 of the Innovator's Mindset book that I read this summer for the science department. Dwight_Carter is an administrator and author. Their conversation centered around many of the challenges faced by administrators who work in varying environments that change frequently. From standards to variety of teachers in their buildings. It was a good exercise in empathy for me to listen!
A colleague and I got to go to Stanford for a Mathematics Mindset conference. It was great to meet teachers from other schools who are in various stages of implementing Jo Boaler's ideas of what math classrooms should be. Here is a link to a poster I am going to put up in my classroom. I made some great connections and heard about exciting results out of San Francisco Unified School District. I am excited to keep evolving as a math teacher! The math camp materials provided lots of activities to use in my classes, and it would be a great curriculum to use at Breakthrough Kent Denver to try to give some DPS students a different math experience in the summer. I was looking for resources to try to help parents see why math education needs to evolve. Jo Boaler recommends that parents take the "How to learn math for Students." which is a free online course. There are also lots of resources for parents on the youcubed.org website. I was also able to get all of the names of the researchers whose work has been used to prove why we need to revolutionize math education. All of the various psychological studies and math metrics argue that removing labels and timed tests will help all students have a better relationship with math and earn higher scores on standardized tests. One of my favorite resources was the film we saw called, "Rethinking Giftedness." The changes I plan to implement immediately come from the idea of Mathematical Freedom. I am starting by changing the way students will record the work we do in class, and giving them access to more resources to solve problems. I get to continue to use online resources from the facebook page associated with this conference. As well as following Jo Boaler and the rest of the community of like-minded educators on Twitter.
Podcasts
I just finished listening to the Science Friday podcast this morning because of being away last week I didn't spend as much time in the car. I liked the idea of promoting science literacy in all classes to teach students how to be critical readers of information. The science news was interesting because scientists have recently identified a new species of Orangutan! I also liked hearing about the microbes as well as snails that could potentially be used for cancer research. Can you tell I was a Biology major?
This week the Truth for Teachers podcast really spoke to me. I often have stress over not doing enough and how to balance work with home life. I need to look into the toolkit, Angela Watson and Dan Tricarico have developed. Dan has a website called the Zen Teacher. It makes me want to re-introduce yoga into my weekly routine. I have now registered to get the email when they start the new group for the 40-hour work week club.
#IMMOOC
This recording of the YouTube live discussion with George Couros, Katie Martin, and Dwight_Carter was about Part 3 of the Innovator's Mindset book that I read this summer for the science department. Dwight_Carter is an administrator and author. Their conversation centered around many of the challenges faced by administrators who work in varying environments that change frequently. From standards to variety of teachers in their buildings. It was a good exercise in empathy for me to listen!
Podcasts are sustainable!
Week of 10/30 to 11/03
When I get super busy at least I can still listen to podcasts. I spent my dedicated reflection time last weekend getting ready to go to a conference. I will share about that in my next post. It was awesome! Here was my PD week:
Podcasts
Truth for Teachers this week was part two of strategies for working with students in high poverty. Again, this didn't really apply to my teaching situation, but it was helpful to listen and take what wisdom I could. I also followed the two teachers from this podcast on Twitter.
I keep hearing Angela Watson mentioning the 40 hour work week club, so I finally looked it up. Here is the link: https://40htw.com/join/
I am going to see if I can get this to count as professional development that the school will pay for. Even if I can't, it seems like it could save lots of time and make me more productive so I will see if I can fit it into the personal budget.
Science Friday this week had so many fascinating segments. I especially liked learning more about spiders, and CRISPR. The discussion about how different cultures deal with death was interesting, too. I have read the book Stiff and it reminded me of that. Which is particularly timely given my book club is reading Stiff right now.
MindShift
I finished the last episode about restorative justice they are working on in KIPP schools. It was the last episode of the season, so I wasn't able to listen to more. I enjoyed thinking about the implications of punitive justice and how it can be modified to better fit with growth mindset messages. I was pleased that most of the ideas in the podcast are already being adapted for our school.
Readings
I didn't get to do any readings this week because we had a special 6th-grade Seniors event on Wednesday morning, but I will get to it this week during PLC time Wednesday morning.
When I get super busy at least I can still listen to podcasts. I spent my dedicated reflection time last weekend getting ready to go to a conference. I will share about that in my next post. It was awesome! Here was my PD week:
Podcasts
Truth for Teachers this week was part two of strategies for working with students in high poverty. Again, this didn't really apply to my teaching situation, but it was helpful to listen and take what wisdom I could. I also followed the two teachers from this podcast on Twitter.
I keep hearing Angela Watson mentioning the 40 hour work week club, so I finally looked it up. Here is the link: https://40htw.com/join/
I am going to see if I can get this to count as professional development that the school will pay for. Even if I can't, it seems like it could save lots of time and make me more productive so I will see if I can fit it into the personal budget.
Science Friday this week had so many fascinating segments. I especially liked learning more about spiders, and CRISPR. The discussion about how different cultures deal with death was interesting, too. I have read the book Stiff and it reminded me of that. Which is particularly timely given my book club is reading Stiff right now.
MindShift
I finished the last episode about restorative justice they are working on in KIPP schools. It was the last episode of the season, so I wasn't able to listen to more. I enjoyed thinking about the implications of punitive justice and how it can be modified to better fit with growth mindset messages. I was pleased that most of the ideas in the podcast are already being adapted for our school.
Readings
I didn't get to do any readings this week because we had a special 6th-grade Seniors event on Wednesday morning, but I will get to it this week during PLC time Wednesday morning.
Monday, November 6, 2017
Late again!
This week my excuse for being late is the MS Halloween Dance, other Halloween activities, and student conference preparation.
My PD for the week of October 23rd Reflections:
Podcasts
Truth for Teachers this week was the first part of an interview with Sarah Plumitallo and Tamara Russell. The focus was about strategies they use in their classrooms that help them connect with students living in poverty. Although I do not teach high poverty students some of the strategies still apply to any teacher because they are all about building relationships with students in an authentic way. I also have scholarship students who do not live in poverty, but they are in a significantly lower income bracket than their classmates. This podcast help reinforce the importance of not judging and helping all students get the services or support they need.
Science Friday This week's episode talked about Leonardo DaVinci's life of art and science, the quest for a method of testing for impairment due to pot consumption, how to patch the latest wi-fi security bug, the findings of a recent stellar explosion, the health risks associated with wildfires, and some of the developments from Blade Runner 2049 that are no longer merely science fiction. My favorite piece was about Leonardo because he dissected living things and examined human anatomy in such minute detail to learn how to draw and paint faces more accurately. The Mona Lisa is a perfect example of how subtle muscle movements can make her smile look different from different locations.
MindShift This was a new blog that was recommended by a co-worker. It was interested because this episode touched on restorative justice and how it is being implemented at KIPP academies in California to replace a more traditional discipline model. Interesting stuff and I found it linked to math because the relationships have to come first and it also should involve voice and choice if it is going to be successful.
Videos
#IMMOOC Episodes 3 and 4
Tara Martin was the guest speaker for Episode 3. She is the one who suggested making blogs easier to read by putting headings throughout like I have done on this one. I also realized that Tara indirectly taught me how to use Tweetdeck and I appreciated the love she gave to me as a new Twitter user. That is the kind of support she talked about getting from the Twitter community and how those ideas lead her to be innovative and come up with her #Booksnaps idea. I really enjoyed hearing about how she has used the Twitter community to expand her horizons. She also talked about tweeting with an image and tagging people so your blog gets more notice. She believes in blogging because even if you don't get many people following you that you are still growing as a person and as a teacher by writing the blogs.
Patrick M. Martin was the Episode 4 guest and I really enjoyed hearing about his experience with being an innovative administrator. It was great that he included students when they were deciding to go to 1 to 1 Chromebooks with his students. I loved that they took the time to ask students for their feedback on technology and how they would use it. It was interesting that they saved so much money by the students telling them they wouldn't use computer cases. I wonder how this might apply to moving into the new building.
Reading
Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You'd Had the thirty minutes of reading I did for this book was some case studies following things successful math teachers do to encourage deeper thinking and understanding in math classes. I like how closely related this book is to the concepts that Jo Boaler talked about in the "How to Learn Math for Teachers" class I took this summer.
Local Contacts
Networking with a 6th-grade science teacher at a local independent school. We have been emailing back and forth and haven't gotten around to meeting up yet, but we try to do that at least once a school year to share resources and ideas for teaching.
My PD for the week of October 23rd Reflections:
Podcasts
Truth for Teachers this week was the first part of an interview with Sarah Plumitallo and Tamara Russell. The focus was about strategies they use in their classrooms that help them connect with students living in poverty. Although I do not teach high poverty students some of the strategies still apply to any teacher because they are all about building relationships with students in an authentic way. I also have scholarship students who do not live in poverty, but they are in a significantly lower income bracket than their classmates. This podcast help reinforce the importance of not judging and helping all students get the services or support they need.
Science Friday This week's episode talked about Leonardo DaVinci's life of art and science, the quest for a method of testing for impairment due to pot consumption, how to patch the latest wi-fi security bug, the findings of a recent stellar explosion, the health risks associated with wildfires, and some of the developments from Blade Runner 2049 that are no longer merely science fiction. My favorite piece was about Leonardo because he dissected living things and examined human anatomy in such minute detail to learn how to draw and paint faces more accurately. The Mona Lisa is a perfect example of how subtle muscle movements can make her smile look different from different locations.
MindShift This was a new blog that was recommended by a co-worker. It was interested because this episode touched on restorative justice and how it is being implemented at KIPP academies in California to replace a more traditional discipline model. Interesting stuff and I found it linked to math because the relationships have to come first and it also should involve voice and choice if it is going to be successful.
Videos
#IMMOOC Episodes 3 and 4
Tara Martin was the guest speaker for Episode 3. She is the one who suggested making blogs easier to read by putting headings throughout like I have done on this one. I also realized that Tara indirectly taught me how to use Tweetdeck and I appreciated the love she gave to me as a new Twitter user. That is the kind of support she talked about getting from the Twitter community and how those ideas lead her to be innovative and come up with her #Booksnaps idea. I really enjoyed hearing about how she has used the Twitter community to expand her horizons. She also talked about tweeting with an image and tagging people so your blog gets more notice. She believes in blogging because even if you don't get many people following you that you are still growing as a person and as a teacher by writing the blogs.
Patrick M. Martin was the Episode 4 guest and I really enjoyed hearing about his experience with being an innovative administrator. It was great that he included students when they were deciding to go to 1 to 1 Chromebooks with his students. I loved that they took the time to ask students for their feedback on technology and how they would use it. It was interesting that they saved so much money by the students telling them they wouldn't use computer cases. I wonder how this might apply to moving into the new building.
Reading
Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You'd Had the thirty minutes of reading I did for this book was some case studies following things successful math teachers do to encourage deeper thinking and understanding in math classes. I like how closely related this book is to the concepts that Jo Boaler talked about in the "How to Learn Math for Teachers" class I took this summer.
Local Contacts
Networking with a 6th-grade science teacher at a local independent school. We have been emailing back and forth and haven't gotten around to meeting up yet, but we try to do that at least once a school year to share resources and ideas for teaching.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)