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J.D. has a great post at MathandText which provides a different method of dealing with the problem of teaching division of fractions. I really like the idea of building on students’ previous knowledge of equivalent fractions and common denominators. After a lifetime of cross-multiplying, the idea of actually dividing when doing division of fractions just seems so foreign.

I don’t recall ever seeing it done this way, but it works great. It is the equivalent of cross-multiplication, or invert-and-multiply, but makes it much easier for students to visualize what it represents. I think this could also be a really good way to introduce invert-and-multiply and to explain how it works.

More research (Computers widen gender gap for boys) that says boys are lagging behind girls in terms of school achievement, though nothing really earth-shattering. The article refers to research that found students who used computers for school work tended to score higher on examinations and national tests. At the same time, students - mainly boys - who used their time playing games on the computer tended to score lower.

As I said in the title, it’s all in how you use it. While the article talks about how the achievement of students who play a lot of computer games is lower, I would expect that students who spend their time playing football or watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would tend to score lower as well. This is a combination of not using the tool well and not using their time well. One of the things that we, as teachers, need to do is to help students understand that computers are not simply “boys’ toys”. They are powerful tools and students - boys and girls alike - need to see the power they have at their hands. In many cases, we simply don’t expose the students to enough opportunities for true learning with the computer. Instead, we often use computers for simple word processing, basic web-based research, or even for crowd control in the classroom. (You’ve finished your work? Okay, go play a game and be quiet.)

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about David Booth’s talk about boys and literacy. At one point, he spoke about computer games and the benefits that they can bring. Unfortunately, the type of gains students may experience don’t seem to be directly related to the exams and tests the researchers studied, based on these results.

We know that boys will continue to play games on the computer, as will many girls. What do we do? I know that I will continue to read about other people’s creative solutions and try to have students discover the true power of computers through engaging and creative activities. Am I always successful? Um, no! But at least the students have begun to see some more of the possibilities.

What are you doing to try to increase student achievement through the use of computers?

The latest campus craze? Freshman reading - From CNN
This article talks about reading programs at American Universities. These programs include real-life links to the texts. While the specific examples given in the article are beyond junior/intermediate students, some of them could be adapted for younger students.

I head back to work tomorrow and I needed a bit of a laugh. I found what I needed!

I was looking back through some posts from my old pdZone site and came across a really good article that I need to take back to school with me next week. It is a very engaging article by the late Guy Bensusan. I do not have any experience with Mr. Bensusan’s writings, but I really enjoyed this tale of transferring differentiated teaching styles from the swimming pool to the classroom. It presents an individualized learner-centered philosophy that leads to increased confidence and the motivation to succeed.
(Just practicing my edspeak as I get ready to go back to school!)

This article appears in the July 2004 edition of the International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning

The workshop I attended was given by David Booth from OISE/UT. It was all about boys and literacy, but was a lot more than just “boys need books about cars”. Mr. Booth is a very engaging and informative speaker. Much of what he said was not entirely new, but it pulled a lot of threads together and helped to plant some seeds of ideas. One of those seeds was for a project that I began to plan with another LL teacher from my board, a project that we began to discuss after the workshop.

I took notes on my Palm as he spoke, as I wanted to hang onto some of the ideas that came up. Here they are as I jotted them down:

• “what boys want, we don’t”
• why do we do book reports? -not that useful
• let them play to their strengths, but expose them to new things
• we tend to do things in school that aren’t used later in life
• reading is perceived as a “girl thing”
• novels developed in the 17^th century for women
• boys need to see reading, or any kind of learning, as valued
• boys are often only called upon in class as behaviour control
• music lyrics are today’s most popular text
• “the enemy is worthlessness”
• “literacy is a culture”
• boys’ egos can be damaged easily
• computers have allowed men to feel comfortable writing - don’t have to worry about handwriting
• computers have allowed people to write more than in all of history - reminds me of The World is Flat
• even text messaging is literacy
• I was one of only two in a room of 50 teachers to know what blogging is
• read whatever the hell you want to read
• new literacies will become more and more important
• students who take shops (usually boys) don’t get the same type of enrichment activities that music students do
• you get as much or more from books on tape as from real books
• 2/3 of all men print rather than write cursively
• get them to read more, more in-depth
• literacy is making sense of any text we get
• “the literate guy will be the one who wins”; the one with the most options
• Cris Tovani - an excellent resource
• we don’t have students read contemporary scripts
• allow students to make meaning
• It is gratifying to hear some of these things from someone from up above.
• graphic novels are huge trend - biggest thing from publishers - give boys something they want to read
• boys used to read comics, but we didn’t recognize this as literacy
• video games require high degree of cognitive ability
• we need to expose kids to full range of literacy opportunities
• idea - have students make core list of books for students in younger grade
• create context for reading - give students background for text to be read
• the more meaning you make, the better understanding you have
• get the kids to read what they want to read
• make your own video - get kids to talk about their view of literacy in school

This was really fascinating/engaging stuff. This is what I would love to use for my practicum or for Master’s. I am trying to figure out something specific that I can create as a final product for my practicum. I was lookng at some sort of a technology plan, but I would like to make it something practical and link it to literacy, particularly boys’. Overall, this was a great day.

I still want to try to do something with the “real men read” idea. I also want to try to set up some sort of blogging reading response space. Perhaps a shared reading/writing wiki space could be use as well. This would allow students to share the writing process.

Another suggestion was to set up a staff book club. The school could have assemblies through the year to allow teachers to share (model) their reading with students, particularly for the boys.

Mr. Booth also suggested guysread.com when I was talking to him after the presentation. I think I have visited this site before, but I’ll have to check it out.

I attended day 1 of the NOEL literacy conference today (I can’t attend day 2 due to family commitments) and was very pleased that I did. I could start with details of the breakfast, which was pretty amazing for a conference buffet, but it was the speakers that really shone.

The day began with children’s author Sheree Fitch. She spoke a lot about the value of poetry, particularly nonsense poetry. She told us how nonsense poetry and tongue-twisters are great ways to get all students involved, because those students who have difficulty with reading can feel safe about making mistakes. It reminded me of something I wrote in a course last summer regarding the use of tongue-twisters in the FSL classroom. The idea was that all students could participate because all of them would make at least some mistakes. They could develop their fluency and have fun while they made mistakes, not something that normally happens.

Probably the most important thing that I took away from her talk was the idea of giving children the chance to find and use their own voice. I will definitely take that with me through the year as a literacy teacher.

Thinking ahead to completing my annual learning plan, this is a great template. Steve Dembo has created a “personal contract” that he plans to follow. I find it interesting to articulate it in this manner. It seems like the one to whom we break our word the most often is ourselves.

I like how Steve has included personal time in his contract. I find that, too often, this type of exercise winds up being about giving ourselves over entirely to the job. We need to recognize that it is crucial to include time for ourselves in the whole planning process. It does not benefit us or our students if we are completely burned out. Recharging the batteries is a must.

I wrote the following back in April:

Here is a webcast of a presentation by Alan November. He speaks about the need for change in how children receive an education. Some of the point he makes are about the need for:

• higher standards
• differentiated instruction
• children to be “desperate to learn”

His use of the term “digital immigrant” reminded me of the articles by Marc Prensky, entitled Digital Natives. In it, he speaks about the need to recognize what students know and what students need in the world of increased technology use. The articles can be found below.

Part 1

Part 2

As I reflect on this post, I think about other content that I have read in the intervening time. Mr. November’s remarks certainly resonate with me. In May, Will Richardson referred to Mr. November in posting his thoughts on the importance of finding a way to produce “fearless learners” within the context of what he calls “fearful schools”. Will writes about the limitations that are often placed on our use of technology and which prevent us from taking a global view of education. Instead of reaping the full benefit of the almost possibilities of the read-write web, students are so often bound by the walls of our classrooms.

In his post, Will also mentions a book by Thomas Friedman, entitled The World is Flat. Initially, I really was not interested in Friedman’s book. It sounded like another doom and gloom view of the current state of affairs in North America, but I have been reading more about it and find myself drawn to it. Further reading has produced various ways in which his theories fit into education. I think I’m hooked.

Tom Hoffman’s breakdown of Friedman’s “flatteners” provides an overview of the book, while Dr. Tim Tyson (via Anne) is recommending the book to his staff. I particularly like his goal of making students into “global life-long learners and collaborators who will be competitive in the global job market”. I find his thoughts inspiring as I think about the value of staff development and the type of world in which my students, and my own children, will live.

There is so much running around in my head right now, but it is almost 1:30 and I should get some sleep. It’s an exciting time to be in education!

Back in February, I came across the poetry of Taylor Mali, but have been thinking about his work again recently. My first exposure to his work was a performance of The Problem With Teachers… (low bandwidth version here), his reply to some teacher-bashing. His web site contains a few audio and video versions of his work, as well as several in text format.

Empowering? I hate the word and feel that it is terribly overused. I would say inspiring and powerful. I shared a few of Mr. Mali’s works with my fellow staff and they were equally moved.

Taylor Mali wants to create 1000 new teachers by 2006. Will he make it? Well, I don’t know about that, but his words have kept me energized a couple of times when I needed it. Now, as I think about returning to school in a couple of weeks, I am trying to re-energize myself and think again about what it means to me to be a teacher.