Friday, December 4, 2009

Math and Science Teachers! Need some classroom supplies???

I just got an email from the intern for the West Region of DonorsChoose.org letting me know about a funding opportunity specifically for teachers in Oakland Unified School District for Math and Science related projects.

DonorsChoose.org is an online nonprofit that connects public school teachers who need supplies for their classroom with donors who want to help. They are partnering with Chevron to 50% fund classroom projects that are posted by Oakland teachers on their website.

Projects should explain how the requested resources will help students with Math or Science. Visit www.donorschoose.org/teacher to post a project!


See below for her contact information if you have additional questions:

________________________________

Isabel Guenette

West Region Intern, DonorsChoose.org

323 Geary Street, Suite 419 | San Francisco, CA 94102

415.391.1192 | westintern@donorschoose.org



Tuesday, December 1, 2009

For Spanish Teachers

Keep up with Latin American politics (there is a lot of it!), art, music, print movie posters in Spanish (impress middle schoolers with the "nueva luna" poster from the twilight series . . . even a Sponge Bob crossword puzzle . . . It's all right here at Sr. Jones' blog Actualidades

Even if you don't teach Spanish, you will impress your friends and learn something from this cool blog.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Summer Classroom Management PD

Check out pics from our Summer Classroom Management Workshops created by Margaret Dunlap, director of Oakland Unified's Classroom Management Program.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Math Tricks

A kindergarten teacher sent this to me. I wish I knew these tricks in 5th grade! Check out some Math Tricks!
http://minionlinecourses.com/designslinks/math.htm

Thursday, August 6, 2009

August 8, 2009: Back to School Event at Arroyo Viejo Park in Oakland

Arroyo Viejo Park in Oakland is collaborating with the Oakland Mayor's Office, in hosting a Back to School event for the community. The community serviced by the Arroyo Viejo Recreation Center has a high truancy rate, especially amongst elementary school students. In an attempt to get students excited with anticipation about returning to school, this collaborative effort will take place this Saturday August 8, 2009. The day includes speakers, jumpers, face painting, art, food, and backpacks (600 - 800).

Arroyo Viejo Park
7701 Krause Avenue
Oakland, CA

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Teacher Appreciation Day at Office Max

http://www.officemax.com/home/custom.jsp?id=m3610272
Get a free reusable shopping bag and a 15% discount on everything that you can fit inside.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Low-Cost Dental Services

Although as teachers in Oakland Unified School District, we have great health care/benefits, many of our students and their families do not. Have you ever tried to pay attention when you have a toothache???

Diablo Valley College has low cost, high quality dental cleanings.
Call 925-685-1230 Ext. 2534

Clinic Services Include:
Teeth Cleanings for Adults--$25
Teeth Cleanings for Children--$10
Deep Root Cleanings--$25-$55*
X-rays--$5-$25
Whitening (for those who qualify)--$99
Sealants--$5 per tooth
Fluoride Treatments *FREE w/ cleaning

Call today to Schedule an Oral Exam

*Patients must sit for multiple 3-hour sessions in the clinic classroom

Monday, June 15, 2009

Do you have a high school student that needs a job?

There is a summer employment opportunity for teens at MoAD but they need to commit year-round. Go to www.moadsf.org and click on jobs@moad at the bottom of the homepage. It's the teen position. Apps deadline extended to June 22 @5PM. Must be 16.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Classroom Management Tips for High School

  • Students who understand what you are saying tend to behave better. Make yourself comprehensible. Slow down. A lot. It may seem easy to you but that's because you already know the material. If you convince your kids that you care that they understand, that it's their job to show when they do and don't understand, you'll win over a bunch of students.
  • Students behave better if they have roles: ask your students to help by slowing you down when you go to fast, answering frequent checks for meaning.
  • Students who believe you are sincerely interested in them will behave better. Talk to them like actual people, especially before/between classes. One, it's a nice thing to do. Two, you can build their lives into examples. One way many teachers accomplish this is by having kids fill out interest surveys at the beginning of the year: our job is then of course to read them and put that knowledge to use, relationship building.
  • If you put your students and their learning ahead of an imposed curriculum, they will tend to behave better. If you are obeying a curriculum, make sure you always tie it to the kids' perceived needs somehow. If you are slogging through a text-book chapter by chapter, please reconsider.
  • Keep your "rules" simple, and don't set up too many pre-established consequences. Every misbehavior is its own weird animal and deserves its own response. Your response doesn't have to be immediate, and the remedy shouldn't tax your resources or energy. Put the responsibility for the rectification of any misbehavior on the student. If a kid caused the trouble, the kid should fix it, on his/her own time. (Straight out of Fay and Funk's "Teaching With Love and Logic")

Monday, April 13, 2009

Need a Ride Home from Work?

The Alameda County Guaranteed Ride Home Program

If you walk, bicycle, carpool, vanpool, or take the ferry, bus or train to work . . . this is a really great resource. It's great for parents that take public transportation. If an emergency comes up, we can get home quickly and efficiently.

You can use it if
  • You or an immediate family member suffers from an illness or severe crisis.
  • You must work unscheduled overtime (supervisor authorization is required).
  • Your ridesharing vehicle breaks down or the driver has to stay late or leave early.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Graphic Organizers and Power Point Lessons

Check out this website which categorizes the graphic organizers by thinking skill.

This website provides PowerPoint templates that you can use in order to create your own review activities in the style of Jeopardy, Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and Hollywood Squares.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Home Visits

On the flteach listserv for language teachers, the subject of home visits came off and I shared my experiences with visiting the homes of my students in West Oakland. Names have been changed.

I just knocked on doors--I started with the "hardest" kids first but I also made sure to visit as many students as possible that represented all of my students. I wanted to let my families know I appreciated them. I went to introduce myself: "Hi, I'm your child's Spanish teacher. I care about your child doing well in my class. Here is my number and email if you need to contact me." I did not go to be a social worker and pass judgment on living conditions. I had no expectations really about what I would see. I did not go to complain about how bad their child was--I would try to be as positive as possible (at least on the first visit). I just wanted to meet my families, introduce myself, and make sure they knew that I wanted the best for their child.

For most of the visits, parents/caregivers would make sure to show me how well taken care of their child was--here is where he can study, here is how much food he has to eat. Parents want teachers to know their child is not just anybody. I got that. Word spread fast "Ms. Payne came to my house!"

Every visit was not joyous. There was Anthony. His mom and I started out having a great conversation. She shared that there had been several deaths of close friends and family lately and that she felt he was taking it very hard. Then Anthony walked in and whatever the look on his face "what the hell is SHE doing here?" his mother started blowing up at him. "I'm tired of this! Get out! Get out before I call the police!" It was crazy. Outside, he yelled at me "it's your fault." I yelled back "wait a minute! don't blame me. we were having a great conversation until you walked in." He calmed down. He said she does that every night when he comes home. Then he just walks the streets until she calms down or gets drunk. The next day (and from then on) he was my biggest ally in class--all 6'4 almost 300 lbs (comes in handy if you're a new teacher).

Then there was Keisha who every day in class glared at me and would repeatedly sneer "you think you're so cute." I went to her house and as soon as I introduced myself her mother got ready to punch her in her face. The house was filthy beyond belief. I quickly let her know that I was just there to introduce myself. There were no dramatic changes. Her looks never became friendly but the open hostility went away. I would sometimes catch her looking at me with a puzzled expression like "who are you?" She dropped out of school not long after and moved from that house (I went back). I don't know what ever happened to her.

Then there was Isaiah. When I knocked on the door, he opened the door and slammed it shut again. I rang the doorbell again. His mom answered. I'll never forget her. She said "Isaiah, I will put my hands and feet on you if you ever do that again." She talked about how she had just gotten out of jail and wanted to do right by her kids. She showed me their computers and talked about how when her kids went to college, their uncle would pay for their education. Peeking from the bedroom, was his little sister. Fast forward a few years: his mom was in and out of jail repeatedly, he was in and out of jail repeatedly (he's now in for a very long time) and his sister was my student. Months went by before she told me who her brother was (they had different last names). She remembered that home visit. After graduating from continuation school, she took a trip to China (graduation present from uncle) and was enrolled in community college.

I truly believe that as teachers we have to humble ourselves enough to serve families and we can't serve families if we don't know them or want to know them without assumptions and biases. I am thankful for the information that I received from every one of those home visits.

Edusoft Training for Teachers: Learn How to Work with Data in Your Class

Target Audience: OUSD Teachers who want to learn how to access free OUSD resources to promote student learning.

Learn How to . . .
  • Access Edusoft to create reports based on benchmark exams.
  • Use online resources to identify student academic needs AND plan targeted intervention based on these needs.
Elementary Teachers: March 12 or March 18 4-5 PM at Oakland High School
Contact: Mical Caldwell for information at 510-879-8195 or mical.caldwell@ousd.k12.ca.us
Secondary Teachers: March 10 or March 16 4-5 PM at Skyline High School
Contact: Jonathon Stewart at 510-238-9156 or jonathonb.stewart@ousd.k12.ca..us

Thursday, March 5, 2009

TESA Training--I've heard really good things . . .

I've heard incredible things about this TESA training. I'll be there. Hope to see you there also.

New Teacher Support and Development presents:

Teacher Expectations/Student Achievement (TESA)

Grades K-12

Learn Equitable Teaching Strategies
Create a Positive Climate in your Classroom

Presented by: Jennifer Abrams

Saturday, March 28, 2009
Sankofa Elementary
581 61st Street, Oakland, CA 94609
9:00-3:00 PM
Light Breakfast, Lunch on your own.

Participants will learn 15 interactions designed to encourage equitable interaction with all students. TESA interactions improve student academic performance, gender and diversity awareness, attendance, classroom climate, and reduces student discipline problems.


Presenter Jennifer Abrams is a professional developer for Palo Alto Unified School District and an international educational consultant for public and private schools, charter schools, universities, and non-profits. Jennifer now trains and coaches teachers and administrators on successful teaching practices, new teacher support, and effective collaboration skills.

Registration: Email Margaret Dunlap at Margaret.dunlap@ousd.k12.ca.us with your name, school site, and grade level. An email confirmation will be sent to you.

Questions? Call 879-8911.


Credits: Teachers can earn credit for advancing on the salary scale through OUSD professional growth/equivalency units, 15 hours = 1 unit.

OR

Teachers can earn units through UOP; teacher pays for the units based on how many classroom management hours teacher has attended.

Monday, February 23, 2009

More Resources (courtesy of Oakland Teaching Fellows)

I just got the February newsletter from Oakland Teaching Fellows and they had a ton of resources listed (thanks Jessica!). See below:

Win a Student-Run Bookstore Grant from Schoolwide, Inc.
Schoolwide, Inc. will be donating up to 200 Student-Run Bookstores across the country qualified entries. Their package includes:
• Gift certificate for $50 in books
• Working cash register and paid stamp
• Eight book displays
• Sales signs and sign holders
• Children's work aprons
• Posters
• Thank you bags
• Instruction manual with reproducible materials

To apply, visit http://www.schoolwide.com

Geography knowledge website
National Geographic is on a campaign to improve the geography literacy of American students and their My Wonderful World website has online maps and games, an atlas, a global I.Q. test, a geography career guide, a newsletter, and links to global organizations like the Peace Corps.

Hot Math
Hot Math’s award-winning website has free services, including training for using graphic calculators, “hint-step” explanations of odd-numbered homework problems in more than 200 math textbooks used in middle and high schools, and ways for students to instant-message with each other while working through teacher-prepared problem explanations together. Note: there are charges for parts of this website but there is a ton of free stuff too.

Attention Science Teachers: Summer Institute on Environmental Education
This summer, Headlands Institute offers educators the unique opportunity to spend 5 days in the beautiful Marin Headlands learning and exploring new ways to make California Science Standards come alive. For more information email Jessica at jadler@oaklandteachingfellows.org for the opportunity flyer.

All About Adolescent Literacy
This website supports grade four through twelve literacy instruction with free instructional materials, articles, classroom strategies, book lists with guided discussion questions, and author interviews.

Money Management for Middle Schoolers
The Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Education at the University of Missouri, St. Louis has developed Money Math: Lessons for Life, a teacher’s guide for helping middle-school students manage their money, stay out of debt, and think about saving for retirement. Quite timely in these economic times!

Attention High School Teachers: Climate science program offered at no cost to your school! Alliance for Climate Education offers high school students around the Bay Area fun, inspiring, and meaningful ways to engage in the fight against the global climate crisis. They present current climate science to students through brief, age-appropriate, and interactive presentations. The program imparts a deep understanding of climate change and explains the powerful tools young people have to help create a cleaner, cooler future for our country and the world. Email Jessica for more information.

Math teaching videos
This website has six fifteen-minute films from Annenberg Media of middle-school math teachers modeling effective classroom strategies, with lesson extensions and resources. This is a must-see for all secondary math teachers.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Resources for Math Teachers . . . Oakland/East Bay Math Circle

Tina Garcia, math teacher in Oakland shared some great information for math teachers that I wanted to share . . .

Mathematical Sciences Research Institute sponsors Circle for Teachers: A Mathematical Problem Solving and Professional Development Program for Secondary Mathematics Teachers in the Bay Area. There is a summer workshop between June 28 and July 2, 2009 and follow up Math Circle meetings to "equip educators with an effective problem-solving approach to teaching mathematics . . . Participants will come away with a variety of resources, lesson modules, and a renewed sense of appreciation for the fascinating world of mathematics."

The Oakland/East Bay Math Circle meets on Thursdays from 4:15-5:30 at Laney College (Bldg G) in Oakland. Teachers can attend with their students (grades 6-12). These are weekly enrichment programs "centered on intriguing and challenging mathematical problems."

Saturday, February 14, 2009

The Greatest Black History Month Ever . . .

This is the greatest Black History Month ever!! If you know anything about me you know that I love Jet magazine. I read it every week and I read every page. I love the section on "This week in Black History" . . . I love the "love and happiness" section with pictures of newlyweds and the couple married for 50+ years . . . I love the "week's best photos." I even love the Jet beauty of the week. In what other publication can you find out where black entertainers will be on television that week? And now . . . drumroll please . . . Jet and its sister magazine Ebony are online! We can now read everything from the May 1968 Ebony after Martin Luther King's murder to the July 3, 1975 cover with little Janet Jackson. What an incredible resource for the classroom!

Johnson Publishing Company has partnered with Google to digitize its magazine archives.

Ebony

Jet

Black World/Negro Digest

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Pipeline to Prison?

"Many of the young men and women in the juvenile justice system never were in the pipeline to college. They were not derailed from the right track; they never got on it." --Children's Defense Fund

How can we firmly place our children in the pipeline to college and far away from the pipeline to prison?

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Is Education a Right or a Privilege??

Interesting question . . . What do you think?

The Friedman Education Project of the ACLU-NC presents the 2009 Youth Rights Conference--

Is Education a Right or a Privilege? Exploring Educational Equity and Racial Justice

What: A FREE, fun-filled, information-packed conference by and for high school students and their teachers/mentors on issues related to educational equity and racial justice in schools

When: Thursday, March 19th, 2009. Check-in begins at 8:30am and the conference is slated to wrap up at 2:30pm

Where: San Francisco State University in San Francisco

Who: We expect great interest and have limited space this year so we are asking teachers to help us encourage the attendance of students of color, LGBTQQI students, low-income students, students with disabilities, and students who dont generally have access to this kind of opportunity.

How: To pre-register contact Perla Pasayes at ppasayes@aclunc.org or 415.621.2493 X333
For more information on the Friedman Education Project, see www.aclunc.org/youth

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Mindfulness as an educator

New Teacher Support and Development Presents:

MINDFULNESS

Tuesdays:
February 24, March 3, March 10, and March 24, 2009
4:15-6:30 PM
Light refreshments will be provided.

Park Day School
370 43rd Street
Oakland, CA 04609

Presenter: Megan Cowan

This 4 week workshop will provide teachers with the tools and knowledge to successfully introduce mindfulness into the classroom. Mindfulness teaches children to pay attention, to learn how to calm and settle themselves, and to be more self aware.

Specifically, mindfulness teaches students to:
  • Listen and focus their attention – stay present.
  • Be aware of their feelings.
  • Have better impulse control so they can choose how to react to a particular situation.
  • Bring mindfulness to their everyday activities.
  • Cultivate a sense of caring and kindness toward themselves and others.

Join fellow OUSD teachers to learn the practice of mindfulness and how to teach it to children in challenging situations. Presenters will provide information on the importance of embodying mindfulness, the science behind mindfulness and how to utilize mindfulness in the classroom. The workshop will include lecture, practice and interactive exercises.

To Register: Email margaret.dunlap@ousd.k12.ca.us with name and school site. A confirmation email will be sent.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Underestimating the Impact of Poverty

A coach sent this to me and I thought this was interesting food for thought.

The red is Krashen and Yvonne Siu-Runyan’s response to the article about school reconstitution in Columbine.

I suggest reading the article first and then the response.

Subject: Underestimating the impact of poverty



Sent to the Daily Camera, Dec 16, 2008

Underestimating the Impact of Poverty

The Colorado Department of Education and Boulder Valley School
Officials think that re-organizing Columbine Elementary Schools is going solve the problem
of low test-scores. It won't.

A large proportion of students who attend Columbine Elementary come
from financially needy families-88.1% of the children are on free or
reduced price lunch.

There isn't a single convincing case in educational research of this
kind of reform producing significant effects when poverty is that high. We have
underestimated the impact of poverty: Children of poverty suffer from
malnutrition, stressful home situations, toxic environments, and have
far less access to books at home, in their communities and in school.
They don't need their teachers fired and re-hired. They need more and
better food, cleaner air and water, more encouragement and nurturing,
and more access to books through improved libraries.

Re-organizing the school is like re-organizing the deck chairs on the
Titantic: It neglects the major cause of the low test scores.

Yvonne Siu-Runyan and Stephen Krashen

Yvonne Siu-Runyan is the Vice-President of the National Council of
Teachers of English.



Columbine Elementary School teachers must reapply for jobs

Daily Camera, Boulder, CO
By Laura Snider

The faculty members at Columbine Elementary School in Boulder went to
a staff meeting this week to greet their new principal. They left not
sure if they still had jobs.

The Boulder Valley School District has decided on a virtual do-over
for Columbine — which has been consistently under-performing on
standardized tests — giving the school a new building, a new
curriculum, a new principal and, now, a new staff.

Teachers were told this week that they will have to reapply for their
jobs if they want to continue working at the school in the fall.

“We really are saying that we want Columbine to be a new school,”
said district spokesman Briggs Gamblin. “The challenges to academic
achievement at Columbine are well-known and are of great concern to
the existing faculty as well as everyone else in the district.”

The district was notified by the Colorado Department of Education
this year that it had to take “corrective action” against Columbine because the school
had failed to meet “adequate yearly progress” — a metric based
on the state-mandated standardized tests — for the third year in a row.

Corrective action, which meets requirements set by the federal No
Child Left Behind program, must include one of the following: creating
an entirely new curriculum, decreasing management authority at the
school level, appointing an outside expert to advise the school,
extending the school day, or replacing the staff who are relevant to
the school’s failure.

“We would not have been required to take this far-reaching of an
action, but this was the right action for this school,” Gamblin said. “We know some people
won’t agree with that, but it is not meant to be negative toward the
current staff in terms of their passion for the kids and their passion for the program.”

But it’s hard for some not to see it that way.

“This is a slap in the face to the dedicated, highly trained and
talented teachers who go the extra mile in a difficult environment,”
parent David Heath wrote in a letter to the Camera. “... They deal
day in and day out with immigrant children that can barely speak English.”

More than 50 percent of the students who are assigned Columbine as
their neighborhood school choose to open-enroll at a different school,
leaving a population of students that is not representative of the
neighborhood demographics. More than 80 percent of the students who
attend Columbine qualify for free and reduced-price lunches, and the majority speak Spanish as their
first language.

The teachers are well-trained, with 100 percent meeting the state’s
guidelines for “highly qualified.” Teachers at Columbine have an average of nine years of
teaching experience, and 23 of the 43 full- and part-time teachers at the school have
master’s or doctoral degrees, according to state data.

“Please explain to our son, who has thrived at Columbine in his
first two years there, why his teacher might not be there when he
returns to school in the fall,” Bryan and Kori Jew asked in an open
letter to the superintendent.

The visioning process for Columbine, which had to be restructured
after racially charged comments marred the process earlier this fall, is meant to engage the
entire community, according to district officials, including people who chose not to
put their children at Columbine.

At Boulder Valley schools, teachers who have taught for more than
three years have a sort of tenure, called non-probationary status. If
the 30 teachers who are tenured at Columbine now do not get re-hired,
the school district “owes them a job,” according to Superintendent
Chris King, and officials will find a place for those teachers
elsewhere.

King sees the re-application process as a chance to have teachers
recommit themselves to a new school and a new curriculum.

Lynn Widger, the current principal, announced her retirement last
week, and she is being replaced by Cindy Kaier, now Kohl Elementary
School’s principal in Broomfield.

“I’ve watched the school for a lot of years,” King said. “And
I don’t think the current model is serving kids. Doing nothing is
not an option, so we’re choosing to do the hard thing because we
think it’s right for the kids.”

2008-12-12

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/dec/12/columbine-teachers-must-reapply/

Saturday, January 17, 2009

2008-2009 Classroom Management Professional Development

You can NEVER have too much classroom management professional development . . . which is why we are offering you an incredible menu of courses for the new year.

New Teacher Support and Development
Classroom Management Professional Development
2008-2009 Course Series
Building Positive Relationships with Students


Phone: 510-879-8911 Email: Margaret.Dunlap@ousd.k12.ca.us

Purpose for Classroom Management Professional Development: This series of classes is designed to help new teachers learn specific strategies and techniques to build relationships with students. Specifically, concentration will be placed upon increasing knowledge of the urban classroom setting, the diversity of student population in Oakland, and principles of classroom teaching and management. Through numerous activities, readings, discussions, and guest speakers, participants will learn how to create positive, supportive and respectful learning environments, and deal with a range of challenges in the K-12 classroom.

Goals:
• To gain an understanding of key concepts associated with school culture and classroom management, and the relationship of these concepts to students’ basic personal and psychological needs.

• To understand the importance of fostering interpersonal relationships in the classroom, and on the interaction between teacher and student as key factors influencing student achievement and behavior.

• To become familiar with research-supported practical strategies for improving classroom climate, organization and management.

• To gain knowledge with regard to creating a positive, nurturing classroom and school environment for students from all ability levels; socioeconomic classes; ethnic groups; and with varied personal, social, developmental and intellectual backgrounds.

Professional Growth/Equivalency Units:
Option 1: A teacher may earn OUSD Professional Growth Units for attending these courses. These units may be applied towards the OUSD salary through Human Resources. Paperwork will be available at all workshops.
Option 2: A teacher may earn Graduate Units from the University of the Pacific (UOP). The teacher attends the workshops, accrues the hours (15 hours = 1 unit) and is responsible for paying the cost of a semester unit. (1 unit costs $50).
For additional information please email pat.attri@ousd.k12.ca.us or call 510-879-8905.


Classroom Management Course List
Location: Sankofa Elementary School
581 61st Street, Oakland, CA 94606

Social Foundations
Grades 3-12 – Wednesdays, January 21, February 4, February 11, 2009, 4:00-6:00
Develop an understanding of the relationship between school and society. Issues discussed include: history of urban schools, relationship between wealth and test scores, tracking, social foundations of early childhood education, impact of immigration on California students, and political and cultural factors affecting second language acquisition.
Presenter: Dr. Kitty Epstein

Tribes TLC Middle School Overview
Grades 6-8 – Saturday, February 28, 2009, 9:00-3:00 PM
Using the new Tribes manual, “Developing Gifts in Middle School,” learn to create classroom norms and group collaboration strategies aligned with adolescent development that engage students in academics and promote resiliency.
Presenter: Jackie Shonerd

Positive Discipline
Grades K-12 – Date To Be Determined
Learn concrete strategies for building community in the classroom and gaining student cooperation based on creating mutually respectful relationships. Participants will practice how to set boundaries and expectations in a caring environment, and learn problem solving processes that involve students and colleagues in solutions.
Presenter: Kate Ortolano

Challenging Assumptions: Considering Children’s Behavior with Learning Differences in Mind
K-5 – February 2009
Explore how learning differences present in children and play out in classroom behaviors. Participate in a learning differences simulation to begin to understand the experience of children with learning differences. Examine ways to address learning differences and create a classroom community in which children with learning differences and their families feel supported.
Presenter: Ilya Pratt

Creating A Successful K-1 Learning Community: Systems and Materials that Work for Students and Teachers
K/1 only – March 2009
Learn how to develop a class community in K and 1st grade. Turn classroom space into an effective learning environment. Select and organize materials so that students can find them, use them, and clean them up. Learn how to initiate and keep good connections with parents.
Presenter: Harriet Cohen, Park Day School, Founder

Mindfulness
K-8 – Dates to be determined
Learn the practice of mindfulness and how to teach it to children in challenging situations. Presenters will provide information on the importance of embodying mindfulness, the science behind mindfulness and how to utilize mindfulness in the classroom. The workshop will include lecture, practice and interactive exercises.
Presenters: Megan Cowan and Laurie Grossman

Multicultural Education is for All Students
Grades K-6 –Dates to be determined
Help students develop an understanding and empathy for people different from themselves. Equip students with the ability and desire to positively interact with each other. Practice fun exercises and lessons to expand students’ knowledge of others and their worlds.
Presenter: Michelle McAfee

Teacher Resource Zone in Oakland

Every cool teacher in the district knows about the East Bay Depot for Creative ReUse. I call it the "teacher store" because only teachers would find a box of old manila folders and think of it as a gold mine!

Now East Bay Depot has a new Teacher Resource Zone
  • Join monthly re-use art demonstrations
  • Work with staff for teachers, Mondays 3-5PM
  • Discover new ways to use salvaged materials
  • Explore curriculum & resources
  • Obtain activity handouts
  • See examples of easy projects
  • Educators enjoy these services for FREE
The East Bay Depot is located at 4695 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA. Visit them online at http://www.creativereuse.org

Observe Veteran Teachers in Your Pajamas!

Here’s a great link. Can’t get out of your classroom enough to observe veteran teachers? Here’s where you can view Videos of exemplary teaching: http://gallery.carnegiefoundation.org/insideteaching/

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Free Spanish Resource

A FREE sixty-three page resource to answer all of those pesky questions about the Spanish alphabet, spelling, accent rules and use of capitalization and punctuation. It is a free pdf download from the www.rae.es website. It would be an invaluable reference to students of Spanish linguistics as well. The text is filled with interesting "observaciones históricas" which give interesting tidbits on why things are the way they are in modern Spanish.


It is found at:
http://www.rae.es/rae/gestores/gespub000018.nsf/voTodosporId/651DD2E435FC3039C12571F8003AAE85?OpenDocument

Click on the left hand side "Ortografía de la lengua española" and the pdf file will download.

If the lengthy click above doesn't work, try:

http://www.rae.es/RAE/Noticias.nsf/Home?ReadForm

Click on the left on "Consultas linguísticas"

Then, you will have the page on which appears the .pdf file on the left hand side.

How to watch youtube (when it's blocked)

I'm not saying that you should try to circumvent the security blocks that prevent students (and teachers) from going to sites such as youtube, myspace, facebook or any other site deemed inappropriate by OUSD . . . I'm just saying that there are mamy great resources on youtube that are not only appropriate for the classroom but assets to aid in engaging students . . .

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/1410038141.html?nid=3714