On teachnet.com blog, I found this neat idea to use in the classroom. They have designed money called Banana Bucks that you can print off and use with your students as a reward. Some of the ways you can give your students the money as a reward for are: Good behavior; Meeting expectations; Achieving goals; Good attendance and there are more on the list but you get the idea. Of course, you can come up with your own as well. The students can spend their money on the following ideas: Extra recess time; Extra time at the computer; Messenger of the day and there are more on the list. You can also come up with ideas for them to use to spend their money on. I like this idea because it is not giving students candy, stickers, etc. just for making good grades or a 100 on a test. You can come up with all different kinds of criteria for them to get the Banana Bucks because not all students are going to make good grades on tests, etc.
On teach net blog I found a neat idea to use with students in the classroom. It is called Six Thinking Hats and you can use it in almost any problem solving activity that might be encountered in the classroom. There is a white, red, black, yellow, green and blue hat. I would make the hats and laminate them then place them all at the top of chart paper. The white hat is where you list the facts of the problem. The red hat is where you state the emotion(s) that stems from the problem. The black hat is where you list the negative aspects of the problem. The yellow hat is where positives of the situation are examined. The green hat is where you list creative ideas that come with seeing the problem in a new light. The blue hat is where you sum up what you have learned. Hopefully this helps eliminate the problem. I love this idea and plan to file it away for future use.
On the Road to Teaching blog, they have a post that lists five tips to avoid Facebook and other social media pitfalls. I think this is very relevant for us because recent news events telling about teachers losing their jobs over what has been on their Facebook accounts. Here are the five tips:
1. Learn about your Facebook and other social media privacy settings. Be very conservative and constantly ask yourself if you want certain information in the public domain.
2. Be a smart producer. Don’t post comments, pictures, links, etc. that your mother/father would find offensive or upsetting. Chances are that your (future) employer would find them offensive as well. Assume if you are applying for a job that the human resources and/or principal will review your online profile.
3. Inquire about your school district’s social media policies. More and more districts are outlining appropriate behaviors in the social media world.
4. Set boundaries of who you want to befriend on Facebook. Some of my high school teacher colleagues refuse to allow any student to be their Facebook friend. Others, say only students that they had strong relationships with AND have graduated are allowed.
5. Assume administration reads your content. Really? Do principals have the time to review your Facebook profile and read your teacher blogs? The answer is mixed. Some principals regularly check their teachers’ blogs to inquire about comments about students and the school, and assess the school’s overall climate. Don’t assume because you have an alias the administration can’t connect the dots between you and your blog. Be sensible about your content.
On Two Writing Teachers blog, they talked about three books that I want to find and read. They are Chloe Instead by Micah Player, No Bears by Meg McKinley and Larf by Ashley Spires. The first two books they give writing workshop ideas for you to use. These books are all new ones published this year. I am a book addict so I love finding out about books that I can use in my classroom. I definitely want to pass on my love of reading to all of my students!
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