Episodes
Monday Oct 26, 2015
Episode 75: Teaching Thinking at a Deeper Level
Monday Oct 26, 2015
Monday Oct 26, 2015
One of our challenges is to get the kids to think deeper. One way of doing this is to create an activity that encourages the kids to take evidence, find additional evidence, analyze it, and then use it to try to persuade listeners that their point of view is the best interpretation of the data. You could use this activity to get the kids to make a stand using contextual information. Wow! This could lead to some serious thinking!
I can smell those brain cells burning right now.
Since it is almost Halloween, I thought that the example I would share today would involve two scary stories that are centered on humans creating and manipulating life. The two stories are Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park.
But the activity wouldn’t be complete without introducing information from a real genetic engineering article; hence I have included a very recent story from Scientific American about gene editing and avoiding biosafety rules and laws. Hmmm, seems to fit nicely with the two books. All it needs is some serious weather with lightning and deranged laughter.
I challenge you to push kids to see connections; I assure you they will not let you down. They may even want to know more about the science behind the novels and the magazine article.
Try it!
What stories might you choose?
Have fun!
Resources:
CRISPR Could Help Gene-Edited Crops Bypass Biosafety Regulation
Length-13:00
Sunday Oct 18, 2015
Episode 74: Teaching Tip-Thinking Beyond the Written Words
Sunday Oct 18, 2015
Sunday Oct 18, 2015
One of the tasks we have as teachers is to get the kids to think at a higher level. You know what I mean don’t you? We want the kids to be able to analyze, synthesize and evaluate. We want them to see beyond just the written words. We want them to be able to make judgments about what they have read. We want them to understand that there is symbolism, bias, and many times a point to the author’s words.
One of my favorite stories, especially for this time of the year, is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. The story has been around for a long time and typically, what is remembered are the parts dealing with the headless horseman and the teacher, Ichabod.
Thanks to many modern treatments of the story, the aspect of the story that centers on jealousy, worry, and competition is almost completely lost.
Sunday Oct 11, 2015
Episode 73: Team Building Tip-Hiring the Right People
Sunday Oct 11, 2015
Sunday Oct 11, 2015
Ask yourself these questions as you are building your team:
Who gets to be on this team?
Who are they as leaders?
Do any of them fix my weaknesses or have I only hired clones of me?
Have I found a catalyst?
Today, I look at John Maxwell’s thoughts about team building from page 77 of The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork.
John says, “A team needs a catalyst…winning teams have players who make things happen.” He also notes, “…there are three kinds of people who are on a team when the game is on the line…”
I hope that as you reflect on the words today that you will take a close look at your team or the one that you are building. Look closely at John’s comments and evaluate your choices. Use a magnifying glass and ask yourself if I have hired people who get things done or am I floundering with people who don’t want the ball when “the game is on the line.”
I have found John’s words to be more than inspiring, but hauntingly true.
I hope that you will take them to heart in building your team. After all, a team is put together generally to accomplish some task not to sit back and wish something would get done or that somebody else would do it.
Thanks for listening!
Enjoy!
Length: 7:46
Sunday Oct 04, 2015
Episode 72: Teaching Tip#1-Classroom Management- Do you have too much stuff?
Sunday Oct 04, 2015
Sunday Oct 04, 2015