Bold Schools

Here's a follow up article to read from my blog post yesterday.  I tend to find something I find interesting and then read lots about it--so that's going to be reflected in my blog posts today!

This article is focusing on defining traits that make a school bold.  The author identifies terms that fit many schools--but how he defines those terms is what demonstrates if a school is bold.

More thoughts on which to chew...

Check out the article here:  http://willrichardson.com/post/15683420897/what-qualities-do-bold-schools-share

Learning in a Networked World

Check out this presentation by Will Richardson.  It challenged some of my thinking.  It's long--but worth the clicking it takes to get through it.

https://docs.google.com/a/valpo.k12.in.us/present/view?id=ah8n38hnwpnq_1250gf43rsf9

Scale of the Universe...

I had this link sent to me this week--and it's pretty interesting!

http://htwins.net/scale2/scale2.swf?bordercolor=white

For those of you who know me, you know that often times my brain makes odd associations.  For some reason exploring this website made me remember the song from They Might Be Giants called Particle Man.  (To help you make the connection--one line says, "...size of the entire universe man")  Now I have the song stuck in my head--and it's not all bad for a Friday!  In case you haven't heard the song...enjoy.  Now I hope it is stuck in your head, too!

Number Rack

Looking for a new math app?  Check out the Number Rack App from The Math Learning Center--it's free!  (Get more information here:  http://catalog.mathlearningcenter.org/apps).  There is an activity book available for free as well (http://catalog.mathlearningcenter.org/store/product-8473.htm).

Self-Control

I've often thought about self-control and how it impacts my waistline, but I haven't often connected the idea of self-control with mental capacity.  Here's a quote from an article I read this week:

"Indeed, childhood self-control is twice as important as intelligence in predicting academic achievement."  (click here to read it for yourself:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/opinion/sunday/building-self-control-the-american-way.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=opinion)

This reminds me of some reading I did in "Nurture Shock" (one of my favorite reads from two years ago) that talked about studies done with children and delayed gratification and storytelling.  I'm sure you remember hearing about the marshmallow experiment in which a child had to choose to have one marshmallow now or a few of them in a few minutes (watch a video, which is quite entertaining, showing it here:  http://www.buzzfeed.com/akdobbins/the-marshmallow-test or you can read about it here:  http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/18/090518fa_fact_lehrer).

Thought provoking...

Rock This Test!

It's about time for ISTEP+ testing in Indiana--and our schools are ready to roll!  Check out Northview Elementary School's efforts to pump students up about the test--and about doing their personal best!  We believe in YOU--a message all kids need to hear.  Way to go Northview staff!  AWESOME!

http://www.schooltube.com/video/d5b561def5ec4318828b/Rock%20%20this%20test!

Teaching Vocabulary

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a session by Kristina Smekens about teaching vocabulary.  She shared some great ideas about the many exposures kids need to new words and also about students needing to be able to interact with new vocabulary in ways beyond simple memorization of definitions.

I stumbled across this article--and read it because my brain had been thinking about teaching vocabulary.  One thing Kristina Smekens talked about is that students need to be able to make a visual representation of the vocabulary term.  She also talked about creating many moments of exposure to the word being learned.  I'm thinking this might be another great way to increase vocabulary exposure--and it could work at all levels in all disciplines.  Pretty neat idea!

http://www.techlearning.com/Default.aspx?tabid=67&EntryId=3895