Sushi & 6th Graders

“Can we go to real lunch now?” My students asked.

It was spring and my sixth graders had studied Japanese history and culture. Trying to bring some authenticity to my classroom, I asked the owner of the nearby sushi restaurant to make samples for my students.

The next morning, just before lunch, my sixth graders sat in a circle on the classroom floor, their handmade tatami mats in front of them, shoes off, desks pushed against the wall and classmade scrolls with haiku lining the walls.

Our Vice Principal walked into the room carrying a platter she had just picked up from the sushi restaurant. “Lunch is here,” she announced.

Excitedly, the students looked up as we placed one sushi roll on each student’s plate. The boys picked up their pieces with their chopsticks, bit into their rolls and announced, “Blech”. The girls tentatively took small nibbles from their sushi rolls perched in between the chopsticks. Everyone downed cups of tea.

“Sure, go to lunch,” I said laughing.

Funny thing, I don’t like sushi either.

Free DVD from History Channel-America The Story of Us

Here's the info. taken from their website:

http://classroom.history.com/america-dvd/event/form

America The Story of US — premiering on HISTORY™ April 25 at 9pm/8c — is a six week event that provides a fascinating look at the stories of the people, events, and innovations that forged our nation. It will provide you with an unprecedented opportunity to bring our nation’s history to life for your students. This 12-hour series will be supported by educational materials tied to curriculum standards and is copyright cleared for Fair Use in the classroom by instructors or pupils in the course of face-to-face teaching activities.
* HISTORY is offering America The Story of US on DVD to every school in the United States. School must be an accredited public, private or home school, grades K-12 and college. In order to receive your school's DVD, your school principal (grades K-12) or Dean of Students (college) should fill out the request form below. HISTORY strictly limits each school to one request. DVD requests must be made prior to July 1, 2010. DVDs will be mailed around August 2010, and free shipping is included in this offer.

C-SPAN Educator Conference

My favorite non-profit is at it again!

C-SPAN Classroom’s 2010 Summer Educators’ Conference July 12-13 in Washington, DC.

Twenty-five lucky teachers (6-12 grades) will be at C-SPAN’s headquarters in the heart of Washington, DC.

Airfare to Washington, two nights’ hotel stay (July 11 and July 12) and meals during the conference will be provided by C-SPAN (and registration is free!).

For more information go to their website. The application link is here too.

http://www.c-spanclassroom.org/Educator-Conferences.aspx


Apply! Go! Say Hi to Joanne Wheeler for me!

3x5 Cards and Elizabeth Green

In the recesses of my closets and my storage unit, I have my teaching boxes. I know you all have them; boxes of art supplies, books, math manipulatives, holiday/cultural exhibits, rock collections, etc. Well, I was searching through the boxes that held files, mostly files of former student work, but I came across a few 3x5 cards. I had 3x5 cards for every student where I wrote down dates and times of disruptive behavior.

Here are the highlights from 1992 from a student I'll call "Elizabeth".

Elizabeth Green
9/16 12:45 Fighting with Melissa in line
1:05 Drawing when told to put it away
2:15 Pulling arms into t-shirt and pulling t-shirt over her head
9/17 9:05 Running in the library
9:20 Running again after being told not to by librarian
9/21 10:05 Brought video game to school causing problems during Computer Lab
12:50 Gluing paper to her forehead
2:00 Walking around room with paint on a paper, dangling it in front of her and in other student's faces.
2:30 Putting torn up paper bits on Derrick's head.

Then another card for Elizabeth:

10/7 11:30 Kicking legs of desk
11:55 Stabbing George with a pencil and giving answers to assignment to Derrick
10/15 8:40 crumpling paper while I was giving directions
2:25 Drew with pen on Derrick's back
10/19 11:15 Calling Ricardo "Stupid"
1:15 Playing with ruler trying to hit Mark
1:40 Threw Crayon across the room

There are more, but at this point, I'm wondering whatever happened to Elizabeth Green?

Oh, wait, there's a letter I wrote to her parents also. Now I remember - they didn't believe their daughter could do anything wrong. I had to turn copies of these into my Principal.

PTA Goes Dancing

I found the PTA on Saturday night at the Pioneer Saloon in Woodside, Ca.

My cousin's band (yes, shameless plug here) The Hummers, had a pre-St. Patrick's Day celebration. Marvelous Marvin, the lead singer, asked, "Who are all you beautiful dancers out there?"

"Woodside PTA," a few of them shouted. After an event at school, the PTA drove to the Pioneer to dance and sing to "Brick House," AC/DC, the Rolling Stones and "Mustang Sally."

I couldn't find any teachers, but the parents were dancin' and singin' and movin' to the groovin'...
Wonder what they do for Open House?

What We Really Want To Say

I listened and pictured all the school secretaries I worked with over the years and the smile on their faces if they could record something like this on the school voice mail system.

I'm sure teachers are applauding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwghabw4N80

Monkey Year

"How are your students this year?" I asked my friend about her kindergarten students.

"Monkeys." Was her answer. "They were born in the year of the monkey and they show it!"

3 Ways Educators Are Embracing Social Technology

Interesting article I found on Mashable from Greg Ferenstein. Read the entire article here:
http://mashable.com/2010/01/10/educators-social-technology/#


The modern American school faces rough challenges. Budget cuts have caused ballooning class sizes, many teachers struggle with poorly motivated students, and in many schools a war is being waged on distracting technologies. In response, innovative educators are embracing social media to fight back against the onslaught of problems. Technologies such as Twitter and Skype offer ideal solutions as inexpensive tools of team-based education.

Pockets of experimentation are emerging all around the world, and I hope to inspire my fellow teachers with some stories of success. From cell phones to social media, below are three schools that have chosen to go with the flow of popular technology to turn the tide for education.

Skype and Language Learning

Why force students to yawn over a textbook when a real-life native speaker is only a Skype (Skype) call away? At Marquette University, Spanish students hone their foreign language skills with frequent webcam chats with their English-learning counterparts in South America.

“I absolutely fell in love with this program,” wrote one student. Professor Janet Banhidi, the brains behind the virtual language exchange, said Skype conversation gives students a surprisingly authentic experience. As a teacher (and fluent speaker), she can only give her students limited 1-on-1 attention. With Skype, every student has weekly access to a free personal tutor.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of using Skype is the radical increase in motivation. A whopping 85.3% of Janet’s students kept in touch with their digital pen-pals outside of the classroom through Facebook (Facebook). “In the end, the best part of this exchange was gaining a friend who I still today talk with on Facebook” said one student. Additionally, though some of her students enroll to simply fulfill a language requirement, many participants have gone on to major in Spanish from the experience. Students who go above and beyond mandatory assignments will be more likely to remember class material and apply it when they get out into the working world.

Mobile Phones


While many schools around the country have declared all-out war on mobile devices, Wiregrass High School took a decidedly different approach, integrating cell phones into the entire educational experience. Students exchange questions and answers with their teachers via SMS and browse classroom blogs for additional instruction. Moreover, as an efficient collaborative tool, students can quickly trade notes or take a snapshot of the blackboard for later studying.

Like with any tool, students do misuse the privilege, but according to the school’s principal the number of cell-phone related infractions is “minuscule.” Perhaps this is because the policy permits students to use cell phones socially between classes, giving them a much needed digital fix throughout the day. Wiregrass’s experience pairs nicely with similar workplace-related research which shows that giving employees periodic down-time with the Internet actually boosts productivity. In the end, fighting pervasive technologies may just sap the energy of everyone involved.