By Rachel Lynette
When I was in college I had to take Statistics (Psych major, Ed minor). The professor that taught the class had a reputation for scaring the bejeebies out of his students – a reputation that turned out to be true. Not looking like you were actively trying to solve whatever problem he presented was an invitation to ridicule. Voicing that you didn’t understand was worse.
I generally keep Minds in Bloom on topic, but I have also said that along with Critical Thinking and Creative Thinking, there should be a third “C” to this blog – Compassionate Thinking. With that in mind, I offer the following, written by my 16 year old son. My Little Moment of Inspiration I am a lucky person I’m smart, not extremely bad looking, and
Hopefully, you’ve got dictionaries, maybe even a class set. They are, of course, great for looking up words and you will use them to teach dictionary skills, but there are also other great things you can do with these rather large volumes of words. Here are just a few ideas: Send your students on a Dictionary Scavenger Hunt. You can make one up yourself, or get
I am so happy to be hosting my first guest post from the authors of Technology in Class. Technology in class offers a wealth of information, not just on technology, but also on teaching strategies and education issues. They have a knack for finding lots of useful and interesting links as well. I student taught at a nationally recognized high school for academic excellence.
Exactness and neatness in moderation is a virtue, but carried to extremes narrows the mind. -Francois Fenelon Have you ever seen one of those classrooms that is neat to the extreme? Creativity and extreme neatness rarely coexist. Here are some reasons why: Ultra neat classrooms look bare. There isn’t much in the room in terms of art and science supplies or even school supplies above the
I don’t usually get personal on this blog, but my story does have a point that relates to working with children, so I hope you will read it and get something useful from it as well. So, as you may have gathered from my last post, I have been dealing with some personal challenges – nothing life threatening. Just the break up of a relationship. So,
Today I am doing a short presentations about effective ways to communicate with kids, specifically when you want them to do something or want to correct a behavior. I took the strategies I will be covering from the well known book, How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. The picture above features some of
One of our family holiday gifts this year was the Blokus 3D Game. In addition to the strategy element, one of the reasons I enjoy the original Blokus Classics Game so much is that the shapes of the pieces are so appealing.The same holds true for the 3D version. While the classic game pieces are pentominoes, Blokus 3D features the same shapes that can be
So, I am reading Rafe Esquith’s Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56 (well actually I’m listening to it on CD while I drive). I’ll do a review on it when I’m done because I don’t know how anyone can read this book and NOT react to it in some way, probably several ways. But that is for another post.
Maybe your child is genius-level smart; 99 percentile. You don’t need this post. Your kid will get into the program – gifted programs were made for your kid. Maybe your child is a little above average. You don’t need this post either. It doesn’t matter what you do, your kid isn’t going to get in to a public school gifted program. If you can affords
Multiplication problems are hiding all around the classroom, just waiting to be discovered by your students. Next time your class is feeling restless, and you just can’t bear to make them do another set of math problems, give everyone a clipboard (or every pair–this would be a terrific activity to do with a partner) and challenge them to find and solve as many multiplication problems
The Challenge: Do not read the words, instead say the color of each word. Fast. Red Green Yellow Blue Purple Pink Brown Black Orange Yellow Blue Orange Gray Pink Purple Blue Yellow Green Pink Orange If you are like most people, this was not an easy task. That is because our brains are trained to see things and then draw an instantanious conclusion. But what
One of the best ways to get to know your students is to ask questions. But of course, they need to be the right questions. Aim for open-ended, intriguing questions that will get your students to think deeply if you are using them as writing prompts and to interact if you are using them as discussion prompts. Here are twenty good ones to get your
Intelligence is by nature, a bell curve. In every class there is likely to be a few kids (usually the same few) who understand the concepts immediately and are finished before most of the rest of the class is even halfway done. In a perfect world (maybe one in which teachers had endless, paid planning time), those children would have curriculums designed just for them
Maybe you have some challenging puzzles, strategy games, books with logic puzzles, and other fun-yet-educational odds and ends. Consider putting them all in one place and giving the space a name…Brain Gym, The Puzzle Place, Conundrum Corner – you get the idea. By making a Puzzle Place (or whatever you want to call it), you make materials that may have been hidden in a closet
