Education Station Newsletter
Vol. 1 #3 March 2002
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Welcome to the Education Station monthly newsletter! Here we take a look at
great teacher tips, useful teaching links to great sites and helpful ideas and
activities for celebrating holidays, seasons and special days in your classroom.
Our great specials section will help you save money and we have also included
articles that look at the latest practices in education. We hope our newsletter
will help inspire you to be the best teacher you can be! This newsletter is
produced by the Education Station web site, which is located:
http://www.educationstation.ca
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In This Issue
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1. Quote of the Month
Searching for the Gold
2. Teacher Tips
3. Great Links
4. Current Specials
5. Celebrate!
Easter
April Fool's Day
Earth Day
6. What's New!
7. Article
How to Achieve 100 Per Cent Student Participation
1. Quote - more of a poem than a quote, however appropriate as St. Patrick's
Day draws near.
SEARCHING FOR THE GOLD
Look beneath the freckles,
Look beneath the grin,
Look for that which sparkles,
Buried deep within.
Look beyond the whining,
Look beyond the tears,
Look beyond the runny nose,
The frowns, the mess, the fears.
Search for that which glitters
Treasures to unfold
Search beneath the surface
Search to find the gold!
---Jean Warren
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2. Teacher Tips
Writing Activity
I have a bunch of envelopes (someone gave me a whole box of them and told me
that after every holiday Wal-Mart is glad to get rid of the unmatched envelopes).
I am not sure if this is true as I am still using the box of envelopes that
was given to me.
Once a week I greet my students at the door with a handful of envelopes. Each
envelope contains the written name of each student and myself. The students
do not see the names. They select a name and immediately get a piece of writing
paper with a space to draw and begin writing. We have gone over the procedure
several times so they know what to do. They must write the heading (date) a
greeting (dear) name of the person it is being written for and a message. It
is given a closing (from) and must be signed. I give about 15 minutes. Then
the children fold the letters and place in the envelopes. (I reuse the envelopes.
The children know not to lick them) Then I say speedy delivery. The children
hop up and place the envelope on the appropriate desk. We then take a few minutes
to read them. If the receiving child cannot read a word or someone else's writing
they must go to the writer and ask them personally. My kids love this. I have
used stickers on the envelopes for pretend stam!
ps. If you have a late students or absent children, try to remove their envelopes.
I usually also write to a student and draw a picture. They love to get my letters
and they really get tickled when they pick my envelope. I tell them that they
must write so that I can get my writing done also. Sometimes, if a child is
sick I must write several letters because I am left with the envelopes not chosen.
Hope this makes sense. This is something I made up with the thought of authentic
writing and writing for a purpose and also showing children that neatness counts
when others are going to read your writing.
>From Renae
Kiosk Display
One open house, I ran out of bulletin board space and still wanted to display
many of my snapshots that were taken during the year. I thought about building
a Kiosk using butcher paper. Here's how to do it. Cut any length and fold it
into fourths lengthwise. Tape or glue pictures to three of the sides leaving
one end free to be overlapped with the other side. Fold each end over several
times for support and then overlap the two ends to form a triangular prism.
Staple the ends and also staple some yarn to each of the three sides. I hang
this from the ceiling and I have a display that takes up no floor space and
can be used for stories, artwork, etc. My fellow teachers loved the idea.
>From Sue Kast, a fifth grade teacher at Vintage Hills Elementary in California
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3. Great Links
WOW! If you are looking for the best sites full of excellent classroom management
tricks, don't miss this helpful site.
http://drwilliampmartin.tripod.com/reallybest.htm
You'll enjoy this site chalk full of pages dealing with reading instruction
and balanced literacy.
http://www.toread.com/
Boggle's World is a resource site designed for teachers to use with ESL students
but the worksheets, flashcards, wordsearches, crosswords, songs...and more could
be appealing to many teachers.
http://bogglesworld.com/
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4. Current Specials
The following products are currently on sale at Education. Check back often
as the sale products change every week. http://www.educationstation.ca/index.php
For those in the Edmonton area, Education Station will host a special French
promotion from Thursday, March 14 to Saturday, March 16. Celebrate the launch
of over 200 NEW French Items! Books, Games, Decoratives, Incentives, Posters,
Music and more…. There will be Free French Stickers for all !!! A Draw
for $100 E-Gift Certificate!!! Save $5.00 on your Purchase!!! and A Teacher
Tote Bag will be Given Away Each Day!!!
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5. Celebrate!
Celebrate Easter
http://www.123child.com/easter/
and maybe do some egg lessons
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/mathscience/funexperiments/agesubject/lessons/egg2.html
Celebrate April Fool's Day
Until the 16th century, the new year was celebrated at the advent of spring,
near April 1st. In 1584, when the Gregorian calendar was introduced, King Charles
IX of France ruled that New Year's Day be moved to January 1st. Some of Charles'
subjects refused to adopt the new calendar, and continued to observe the new
year around April 1st. Naturally, these individuals were the butt of many jokes
and taunting, and earned the name "Poisson d'Avril" (April Fish) because
at that time of year the sun was in the zodiac sign of Pisces, the fish. Years
later, April 1st remained a day of jokes and merriment. The tradition spread
from France to England, the U.S. and then to the land of fun and silliness we
call Archie McPhee's.
http://www.umkc.edu/imc/aprilfoo.htm
Celebrate Earth Day - April 22
http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/earthday/index.html
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6. What's New
Check out some of our great new products recently added to the site!
http://www.educationstation.ca/viewnew.php
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7. Article
How to Achieve 100 Per Cent Student Participation
Competition increases performance, but collaboration increases learning.
by Dr. Marvin Marshall
COMPETITION
One needs to look no further than the business or sports sections of any newspaper
to see how pervasive competition is in our culture. There is no doubt that competition
increases performance. Athletic teams, bands, and other performing groups practice
for hours spurred on by the competitive spirit.
Obviously, fair competition is valuable and can be lots of fun. Competition
in classrooms, however, is fun for the winner but is often unfair for the others
because the same children usually win, making it uninvolving and even futile
for others. If a student rarely finds himself in the winner's circle, then competitive
approaches kill the drive for learning. Think of it this way. People compete
because they want to win. They love the feelings of winning. Nobody enters a
competition wanting to lose.
Competitive approaches influence students to work against each other, rather
than for each other and with each other. "Serve yourself" is the motto.
Competition often fosters feelings of disappointment, which diminish the innate
desire to participate in an activity.
Teachers of early grades work with children who come to school eager to learn,
but competition dulls their spirit. For example, when the kindergarten teacher
says, "Boys and girls, let's see who can make the best drawing?" the
competitive spirit is fostered. The assumption, of course, is that this charge
will spur the youngsters to do their best. Unfortunately, however, the teacher
has set up only one of the students to be the winner. Even if all the pictures
were to be posted, the inference is that only one student would have the best
picture. The teacher has unintentionally fostered "non-winning" with
the other children simply because competition, by its very nature, engenders
winners and losers.
In band and athletic competitions, losing builds character. However, when a
student is first learning a skill, it is the successful experiences that build
character and self-esteem. In the above example, the teacher could challenge
the students without having them compete with each other by saying, "Boys
and girls, let's see how good of a drawing you can make."
As I visit classrooms, I see the traditional model of teachers asking questions
and students (who want to participate) raising their hands to be called upon.
This approach sets students up to compete for the teacher's attention. Using
this approach, the only winner becomes the person the teacher calls upon. In
a primary class, one can audibly hear the sound of disappointment in those who
were not called on.
The education community should not be stuck in the outmoded model of promoting
competition between students. It is not the path to effective learning. A more
effective strategy promotes total student involvement without competition.
COLLABORATION
The advantages of collaboration over competition for improved learning have
been known and demonstrated for many years.
Here is a simple way to structure student interaction for maximum participation.
First, two requisites: (1) Students have a learning buddy. (2) You have established
a management attention procedure that allows you to almost instantaneously regain
the attention of all students.
Instead of asking a question, which often implies a correct answer, and then
calling on a single person, pose the question. Posing, in contrast to asking,
is open-ended, invites students to engage in thought, and engenders dialog.
After students interact with each other, the teacher then discusses or gives
the answer. Students quickly learn that the teacher is interested in everyone's
involvement. In cases where one answer is correct, students who know it gain
intrinsic satisfaction that comes from "being right."
Notice that the strategy promotes 100 per cent participation because every student
talks to a learning buddy. Even a shy student will participate with another
student. Also, notice that students first grapple with the idea or concept.
This approach of challenging students at the outset with discussion is the approach
used so effectively in Japanese schools. This grappling fosters curiosity, interest,
and motivation.
In short, when activities are structured to be primarily collaborative, learning
becomes noncompetitive, all students participate, and learning is enhanced.
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** If you find the Education Station newsletter to be a useful tool for your
classroom experiences, please forward it to a friend or two. Thanks! **
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