Teaching Learning Leading K-12

Episode 78: Connecting with Kids

Connecting with the kids in your classroom or building better relationships with them takes work.

It doesn't just happen.

After all, we should know that the kids buy into you way before they buy into your subject. 

Since this is the case, it means that connecting doesn't come easy.

Today, I am discussing three ways that you can start connecting with the kids in your classes.

1. Use names.

2. Go beyond the expected.

3. Get involved with school activities.

These three ways of connecting with the kids in your classrooms will help you. By connecting with the kids, they will want to do the work for you. You will be able to inspire them to want to do better and to do more and to get excited about learning, but without the connections classroom progress will be extremely difficult.

Enjoy connecting with the kids!

Length:22:49

Episode 77: Connecting with Parents

Ok, repeat after me-Parents are my Friend.

Today, I am focused on suggestions for connecting with parents of the kids you teach.

I call these suggestions:

Three Key Elements for Connecting With Parents

1.      Reach Out

a.      How about note cards?

                                                              i.      Say something nice at the beginning and find something throughout the year.

                                                            ii.      You can get post cards with postage from the Post Office or make your own.

b.      Use the Web

                                                              i.      Create a blog or website…post your notes, slides, you can even include audio

2.      Be personal and human

a.      Don’t hide behind electronic stuff

                                                              i.      Make a call

b.      Set up a meeting

                                                              i.      Face to face meetings will connect you to them

                                                            ii.      You are a human in person

c.       Stay away from email…too easy to say the wrong thing or send a negative tone.

3.      Don’t avoid contact

.      The sooner the better.

b.      Gets worse if you put it off.

c.       Most parents want to connect with you.

Take the time to connect with parents. It is well worth the effort.

Remember parents are your friend. 

Length: 14:20

Episode 76: Going Google with Instructional Tech Coach - John Vaughn

Recently, I attended an Ed Tech conference with the purpose of taking in everything that was offered on what I call Going Google. In other words, learning from those ed tech gurus who were experiencing the shift from the Microsoft Office Suite to Google Docs. I had the chance to meet many great presenters one of which was John Vaughn, an Instructional Technology Coach with the Coweta County School System in Newnan, Georgia.

Coweta has made the switch to all things Google which means that John helps the staff learn how to use the many aspects of Google Docs. As John says, "From email to the Cloud and all things between." 

We had a great conversation as we talked about the challenges of switching and how he reaches out to support the needs of the staff in his school system. 

We also discussed the many reasons why it makes sense for a school or school system to go Google. 

John noted that one aspect of Google Docs that makes it a wonderful alternative is that it has "an easy learning curve."

Something that is truly amazing about Google Docs is that it allows for real-time collaboration on documents, forms, slides, etc.

John has many valuable suggestions and is extremely helpful with understanding how Google Docs work.

I hope that you enjoy our discussion and I challenge you to take the dive and Go Google!

Connect with John at:

john.vaughn@cowetaschools.net

and on Twitter-

@mrjohnvaughn

Have fun!

Length: 52:52

Episode 75: Teaching Thinking at a Deeper Level

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.

So here it goes...the kids can team up or not team up, they are required to read from each of the books to find evidence of a point of view. Ultimately, they are to share this with the class and the teacher in a presentation that is designed to persuade the class that their point of view is accurate and the best interpretation of the contextual evidence. The kids should have to share a number of references from each novel and scholarly article. There are many possibilities for this but let's say that one side of the argument is that humans should not be allowed to pursue DNA experimentation whereas, the other side is yes most definitely humans should pursue this science. What do you think? Without inserting your thoughts, could you challenge them to think at a deeper level to make a persuasive argument?

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

Frankenstein

Jurassic Park

Length-13:00

Episode 74: Teaching Tip-Thinking Beyond the Written Words

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.

So tell me, do you have some ways that you could use this story to help you help the kids to see beyond the written words? Today, I talk about one such way. 

After listening, I hope that you will think about using a classic story like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow to help your kids to start or continue to develop their skills at analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing.  

Take a chance at using stories to help your kids become more adept at showing and justifying their thoughts about the hidden meanings or the real stories secreted within the written words.

Oh yeah, and just in case you happen to be traveling through the Hollow late at night make sure that you get across the bridge before the horseman claims your head. Just in case, there might be more to the story than we know.

More information about The Legend of Sleepy Hollow-

Summary of the story

A Reading of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

The Story

Summary and Analysis

Length: 11:25