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Teach Safe Practices in Social Media - Gtec Kids

The Top 6 Reasons for Schools to Teach Safe Practices in Social Media

 Not so long ago, many schools throughout the nation banned the use of social media on their website portals, finding censorship an easier solution than coping with the new technology. Regardless, social media acquired widespread popularity. And now, many school districts are formulating guidelines for acceptable usage by students and teachers alike.As a strong advocate of using social media in education, I feel that the responsibility becomes more than just guidelines. Districts need to offer training in its proper, safe, and ethical...

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Role-Play in the Classroom with Delicious

Delicious (del.icio.us) is an online social bookmarking platform that stores and categorizes photos, videos, and articles that teachers can use to motivate and engage students. It is part of social media because teachers can see each other’s folders called “stacks” of information and share each other’s postings of links on the web. These links are usually of high quality because teachers have invested time in surfing the internet to make meaningful selections.Many teachers have used Delicious  to share great links with...

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Schools Beware: Facebook Owns Your Words

With on-line communication transforming the world, many education departments across the country have banned social media in schools for protective measures. Now, districts are readdressing these bans and seeking more effective guidelines. As an educator for more than 35 years, I believe it is time to ask ourselves the following questions:How can schools: protect their students? monitor the content of hundreds of teachers’ messages? regulate personal versus professional text messaging and/or posts on Facebook/ Twitter/ YouTube, Flickr, etc.? Previously, school systems banned teacher access to...

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COACHing Questions for Cooperative Group Work

                         For a complete guide to coaching, please see Teachers as Classroom Coaches                          by Andi Stix, Ed.D. and Frank Hrbek, published by ASCD..The objective of a teacher as coach is to elicit responses that reflect how well cooperative groups or a student is progressing. The questions should be open-ended, probing for as much detail and description as possible. This strategy...

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3 Ps + C Model of Coaching

 Our book, Teachers as Classroom Coaches,  describes in detail ways a teacher can coach her students using the 3Ps + C Model. Here, on our blog, we decided to show an example of how an administrator can use the same strategy with a teacher: The 3Ps + C Model: purpose permission positive suggestion compliment Every principal, especially if we believe that the buck stops at the principal’s desk, as well as all of the teachers and staff, need to establish academic goals that...

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Fraction Rings: Teaching Time, Decimals and Degrees

  (c) 1993 Fraction Rings designed by Andi Stix were produced by Cuisenaire Company of America. This set of math manipulative rings are to be used with Fraction Circles.  Order a set at: http://www.hand2mind.com/catalog/product?deptId=&prodId=020272&q=picture+grids           Andi Stix is an educational consultant & coach who specializes in differentiation, interactive learning, writing across the curriculum, classroom coaching, and gifted education. For further information on her specialties or social media, please email her on the Contact page.

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Heaping Pennies to Teach Group Cohesion

This experiment portrays the idea that group cohesion is stronger than the individual members who form the group.Essential Question: What is group cohesion? What is a team? Guiding Questions: For what reasons do people form groups (substitute teams for groups if you choose)? Generate a list of platforms used where people make connections to form groups. Describe in detail how groups are formed and made. Explain specifically what the group accomplishes. Describe the type of energy needed to fuel the existence of the group. In what...

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Imagery Walk

 The Imagery Walk is an exercise that allows students to visually bring content alive by utilizing their imaginations. It is based on meditative practices but allows for scenes in English Language Arts, historical periods in Social Studies, geometrical designs in mathematics, and procedures in science to be recreated. By implementing this strategy, students are more able to move the content from short-term to long-term memory, because they personally create and interact with the content area. Using a soft, gentle, soothing, and...

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Kinds of Writing

 Do you want to spicen up the kinds of writing that you assign to your class? Do you want to give your students a list of choices from which they can choose? Here’s a fabulous list to get your juices flowing:A ads (for magazines, newspapers, yellow pages) advice columns allegories anecdotes announcements answers anthems appendices apologies assumptions autobiographies awardsB ballads beauty tips bedtime stories beginnings billboards bloopers blurbs books book jackets book reviews broadsheets brochures bulletins bumper stickersC calendar...

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Carousel Brainstorming

 The Carousel Brainstorming strategy is easy to implement. Each cooperative group walks up to an open-ended question posted on chart paper, discusses it, brainstorms answers or solutions, and writes down responses within a given amount of time. When the teacher “carousels” students, or rotates the groups to new locations, they repeat the exercise with a new question. This time students must read the responses from the previous group(s) before they begin to write down new ideas.MaterialsDifferent colored markersChart paperMasking tape (Tape chart...

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