Shawn Achor, Positive Psychology Part I

Shawn Achor, Positive Psychology Part II

Shawn Achor, Positive Psychology Part III

Shawn Achor, Happiness Advantage

You can fastforward past the opening music... to the real meat of the video

After watching the video please post your thoughts on the "Happiness Advantage". How can we, as educators, capitalize on the "Happiness Advantage" in our classrooms, to change mindsets and improve performance?

Copy and paste this link into your browser to access the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OGDHPWS10M

How to make a Brochure -- 5th Grade Tech Project

Sally and Ivan-- here are a couple of videos that show many many things you can do to teach the students about how to create brochures in Word.

The Alphabetic Principle

Working with Struggling Readers

Phonemic Substitution

Letters and Sounds

Daniel Goleman Speaks about SEI...

Promoting SEI through Procedures and Protocols

In today’s session we talked about the importance of having a variety of procedures in place to not only create a structure for the successful functioning of the classroom, but to also support the social-emotional development of students. Structure provides safety and predictability in a classroom, even as the content changes. Safety in the classroom translates into students who are more willing to take risks, and of course we know risk-taking is a desirable behavior because ultimately it promotes growth – both academic and social-emotional.

In the Write Around activity, each of you shared your ideas for developing procedures and structures for a variety of management “needs”:

• Entering/exiting the classroom
• Getting to work immediately
• When you are tardy
• End of period class dismissal
• Listening to / responding to questions
• Participating in class discussions
• When you need pencil/paper
• Keeping your desk orderly
• Checking out classroom materials
• Indicating whether you understand

In reviewing the suggestions on the poster you originally started with, please type the ideas in the comment box for this blog post. Also, please close with your impression of this activity. Was it helpful for you to share ideas with your colleagues? Were there any ideas that you plan to try?

August 21 Inservice Evaluation

Please respond to the prompts below using the comment box.




You can make the image bigger by clicking on it.

Teaching through the Multiple Intelligences

Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences is both profound and cliche. Throughout the educational world, the phrase "multiple intelligences" gets bandied about again and again, the same way as so much edu-jargon until it has almost become trite. In few places are teachers and schools succeeding in truly meeting Gardner's vision of teaching "consequential" content in a way that actualizes the various intelligences inherent in us all.

Consider the following video showing how a school district in Indianapolis is attempting to actualize their multiple intelligence approach. In what ways are they achieving Garnder's desire for student understanding that is both deep and "consequential"? In what ways is thier approach falling short (in order words, "inconsequential")?

Social Emotional Intelligence

Social emotional intelligence is a huge part of what we do here at Seven Arrows. Take a look at the following videos for a brief overview of what it means to help students develop their social-emotional intelligence!

Dr. Maurice Elias, Rutgers University



Anchorage, Alaska "Change of Heart" Program

NEW STAFF INSERVICE -- Evaluation

Please post in response to the evaluation prompts in the image below:



CLICK THE IMAGE TO MAKE IT BIGGER!

Year-End Evaluation

I can hardly believe this year is over!!

To capture our thinking while its still fresh, I want each of you to please complete the following survey (just copy and paste the link into your browser):

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=iOK1Xo19Tw70xwdxmuNGEw_3d_3d


Thanks!!

A New School Order....

Last week we watched a very interesting movie called "2 Million Minutes" which focused on the view of some, that American schools and/or students, seem to be focused on the wrong things. Many of us were stunned by the tenacity with which the students from India and China approached their education and future career goals!

In a world that is becoming increasingly "flatter", can America really afford to continue ignoring the fact that we are in competition with the rest of the world? For minds? talent? jobs? education? Its an important question for those of us designing and delivering education.

At the end of our inservice, we distributed an article that focused on a different approach, that of values and developing character.

If you misplaced the article, you can read it here: http://www.shmuley.com/articles.php?id=610

Rabbi Schmuley feels strongly that we should be focusing on the following:
• Stop asking children what they want to do, and start asking them who they want to be.
• Focus children on a calling rather a career.
• Value intellectual curiosity as opposed to grades.
• Stress purpose as opposed to happiness.
• Put family before friends.
• Seek love as opposed to attention.

Is this realistic? Or is this some sort of educational Utopia? What education will ideally prepare our students for their roles in the 21st century?

Respond to these questions by clicking the "comment" tool below.

Understanding and Using the QRI-4

In today's staff meeting we reviewed our reading assessment tool, the QRI-4. While we all use the same tool to assess reading ability, many of us do not use the tool in the same way. It is important for our students that we build some consistency around the use of this tool.

Developing consistency in administration of the QRI-4 begins with everyone coming to a common understanding of the tool, its benefits and limitations. Through today's activities and discussions, and also the assigned readings (Chapter 10 & 11 of the QRI-4 manual), our hope is to achieve that understanding.

After reading Chp. 10 & 11, please post (using the blog comment tool) your thoughts in response to the questions listed below.

NOTE: PLEASE SAVE YOUR COMMENTS as a WORD file before posting -- as you might lose them in virtual space if there is a sudden glitch in the program (i.e. you have been typing for too long and the program "times out"). If you have trouble posting, email your responses to me and I will make certain they get posted. Thanks.


QRI4 Guiding Questions
Selected Readings: Qualitative Reading Inventory 4, Leslie and Caldwell (2007), Chaptesr 10 & 11



· What kinds of miscues are recorded, and how are they recorded?


· What can different types of miscues tells us about the ways in which the student is successfully/unsuccessfully comprehending the passage?


· What can different types of miscues tell us about specific reading strategies or interventions we might need to implement in order to support students developing comprehension skills?


· What are some reasons that explain the instruction to “number” the recalled details during the retell portion of the assessment?


· Beyond basic recall of facts/details what other information is revealed by the way in which a student retells the information from the passage?


· Why might it be important to find both a student’s “independent” reading level, and their “instructional” reading level?


· In what ways do you use either of these level designations (independent/instructional) to determine instructional approaches?


· Why might anecdotal comments and observations be critical to record on the assessment data recording sheet? How can you make these comments more useful?

Instructional Strategies for Aspergers Students...

Did you know that Aspergers and AD/HD are both considered to be part of the family of Autism Spectrum disorders?

Did you know that instances and diagnoses of these conditions are on the rise -- at what some experts would catagorize as an unprecedented rate?

Even at Seven Arrows, we are beginning to see more and more children in our classrooms that are facing the unique challenges of ADHD and Aspergers. As I reflected on our students, I realized that in nearly each and every class, there is at least one student who either has been diagnosed with ADHD, or Aspergers, or is a child that we suspect may have either condition.

Children with these conditions present us with special teaching challenges. While typically incredibly smart and high functioning, they also present with gaps in significant areas. Socially they are challenged. They miss social cues that for other students are painfully obvious. In language arts they struggle with inferential reasoning and abstractions. In math, they excel when the instruction is logical and linear, but are often lost in the circular/spiral instruction of programs like Every Day Math.

So then, what to do?

Well, I've been looking for resources for some time. I came across a resource today that I found quite helpful, and I'd like to get your opinion. Please click on the link below, and print a copy of the PDF that it opens:

On Aspergers...
http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/k_12/specialneeds/autism/autism5b.pdf

Once you have read through the article, I'd like for you to document some of your thoughts here on the blog. Basically my questions are:

**What value do you see in using these strategies in your classroom (regardless of who is/isn't diagnosed)?

**In what ways might other students benefit from the use of these strategies?

**How easy/practical are the implementation of the strateiges/ideas suggested in the article?

**Which of the strategies might you implement and why?


To post your comments, all you need to do is look near the bottom of this post, and click the "comment" tool. A little box will pop up, and you will be able to type your comments directly into that box.

When you are done, it will ask you for your identity. Please click "other" and then you can just type your name (that way you do not have to be a registered user to leave a comment). Don't worry if you don't see your post right away. It takes a bit of time. Thanks and I look forward to your thoughts!