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Exploring the Possibilities!

The purpose of the blog is to provide additional support to educators as well as parents and community members who wish to create schools which will provide children with the experiences needed to flourish!

​Anne Shaw, Director, 21st Century Schools

Response to "30 Techniques to Quiet a Noisy Class"

10/29/2014

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Response to “30 Techniques to Quiet a Noisy Class”


I completely agree with Ira’s comment.  When I was a beginning teacher I would have loved to have had this list of techniques.  But then I learned the real answer to avoiding the problem of students acting up, talking, etc.  It is not a matter of controlling the students at all. 

As I was reading this post I had the same thoughts as Ira - why all this effort to control the kids?  What I am hearing is a very traditional, teacher-centered classroom philosophy and an attitude of Us vs Them when it comes to students and teachers.  The techniques and their underlying beliefs suggest a teacher-centered paradigm – the students sit and listen to the teacher delivering the information.  That won’t work any more . . . . .

[i] 30 Techniques to Quiet a Noisy Class
[ii] Request a password by subscribing to 21st Century Curriculum.

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Food Day is October 24

10/20/2014

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Food Literacy

Understanding the story of one’s food, from farm to table and back to the soil; the knowledge and ability to make informed choices that support one’s health, community, and the environment.

Food Literacy Quiz
Food Education - tons of great resources!
Food Day in the USA is October 24
Food Day in Canada - August 1
Food Day Curriculum on Edutopia
National Geographic - What the world eats
World Food Day - October 16
Five examples of urban agriculture
Food and Culture - a global, collaborative classrooms project 
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Thanksgiving and more . . .

10/20/2014

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Thanksgiving also means Fall - for those of us in the northern hemisphere!  Thanksgiving Day is celebrated mostly in the United States and Canada.

Important traditions include the Thanksgiving Day feast, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, football games and the official 
start of the Christmas shopping season, which has continued to start earlier and earlier due to stores wishing to increase profits related to Christmas shopping.  Now you see Christmas items in stores well before Halloween!

Please visit our brand new Thanksgiving page on our 21st century curriculum Weebly to find information on the Thanksgiving Day feast, including recipes.

Related topics include nutrition, health (obesity), economics, service learning, agriculture and yes, even environmental studies related to Thanksgiving Day food.

You will also find excellent resources related to the seasons, history and tradition, multicultural perspectives,  film, short stories for  children and classroom resources.  Also see the Food Day links below - awesome!

Thanksgiving Curriculum Page
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STEM Resources

10/20/2014

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EducatorLabs.org
 sent us some resources for STEM today, so we are passing them along to you.  
NSTA | Freebies for Teachers
Science Fair Project Ideas, Answers & Tools
The Science of Addiction: K-12 Integrated Prevention Curriculum
Exploratorium | The Science of Cooking
The 10 Best STEM Resources
Calculators for Kids: Important STEM Tools
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PBL21 Institutes - Learn how to create high quality curriculum

10/7/2014

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Do your students love school?   Do your students study, conduct research and write stories - on their own initiative, unassigned and after school?  Do you receive a steady stream of phone calls, notes and visits from parents asking,  "What are you doing? My child has never been so excited about school before!"   

Are your students learning at extremely high levels?  Are your students' test scores way above those of students in other districts, campuses or classrooms?  Is your classroom virtually free of discipline problems? 
It is unbelievably easy, not to mention, FUN, to design and deliver an authentic 21st century curriculum that will achieve extraordinary results, including MTM - More than Mastery - on the CCSS!

Visit the link below to find all the details about this powerful workshop - modeled after an authentic 21st century classroom.  This is not the "sit and get" professional development, but is dynamic, interactive, creative and fun!  Instead of "sitting and getting" you will be analyzing, discussing, creating, designing, assessing, teaching and presenting!  Then you will go home armed with a framework for a project-based, 21st century curriculum that you designed - for your students.

You will be amazed at the results.  Attend this workshop in December and be ready to dazzle your students when school starts in January! 

Read More Here for complete information about What You Will Learn, What You Will Do and What You Will Take With You! 

Register here to attend one of these PBL21 Institutes offered in New Orleans (December 2014),  New York City (May 2015),  Las Vegas (August 2015) or San Francisco (November 2015).

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Creating Authentic Change is like Launching a Rocket

10/7/2014

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"A little dab'll do ya!"  might have been a great slogan for Brylcreem, but it won't work for professional staff development.  

Creating desired change in a school or a district, or even in a single classroom, is very similar in many ways to launching a rocket to the moon.  

Just as launching a rocket requires enormous thrust to escape the gravitational pull of the Earth, your initiative will require the same thrust. 

Your goal is to escape the gravitational pull of traditional, factory model education - the thrust you need to escape that paradigm is intensive professional development and other supports, from policies to schedules to the learning environment.

Professional staff development is not an expense, it is an investment - in your teachers, in the students and in your community.  Ensure that your initiative is fully supported and funded.  Commit to your teachers the necessary resources to make the successful transition you have asked them to make.  

In the video below you will see examples of failed rocket launches.  These represent failed or poorly planned reforms for schools.  Failure is necessary for learning;  NASA finally got it right.  

Why don't we learn anything from the many failed reforms in education, mostly centered on the testing industry?  Isn't it time to do what's right and what works?
​
Learn here about Effective Professional Development, i.e., How to Have a Successful Launch !


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Halloween as rich content for PBL Curriculum

10/7/2014

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Shakespeare's 3 witches
Using Halloween as a jumping-off place you can find many excellent ways to make the curriculum relevant, rigorous and real world - and all connected to themes that really engage your students!  From ancient mythology and religion to modern movies, from the deep seas to outer space, an interdisciplinary unit designed from among the following themes can carry your curriculum standards:  incorporate literature, history, geography, philosophy, ethics, medicine, media culture, economics, advertising and marketing and law. 

This page will take you to excellent project ideas and resources on the following fun themes!  You will find connections to all the disciplines, to content standards, integration of multiple literacies, 21st century skills.  Going above and beyond the Common Core - relevant, rigorous and real world curriculum that is project-based, interdisciplinary, 21st century, connected to the community (local to global) . . . see our 3 compass roses for designing a 21st century curriculum!

See the 21st Century Schools Curriculum site for resources related to Frankenstein, War of the Worlds, Ghosts, Witches, Zombies, Halloween, Day of the Dead as well as links to popular culture, from It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! to Dracula! or Jekyll and Hyde, the Musical!

Students can conduct a mock trial of Victor Frankenstein, conduct a deep analysis of a story in various media and through time (Jekyll and Hyde;  War of the Worlds), produce and market a community theater (Young Frankenstein;  Shakespeare)!  Take a look at the content standards, skills and literacies and you will be amazed at how many are integrated at high levels.  So much better than textbooks, worksheets and plowing through the list of basic skills! 

Get a colleague or two to brainstorm the possibilities with you.  Do a little, or do a lot!  Let Halloween Day be the culmination of a brief curricular experience, or let Halloween Day be the exciting entry event into a deeper learning, PBL unit!

Find inspiration on the following pages of our 21st Century Curriculum web site:


*     History of Halloween     *     Halloween and Day of the Dead     *     Frankenstein   *   
*     Zombie Apocalypse     *      War of the Worlds    *   Witches     *      *     Ghosts     *       Monsters    *   
*    Misc. Projects, Lesson Plans & Activities    *   More Connections to Popular Culture        

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  • Blog
    • 21st Century Schools site
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  • Schools
    • Schools
    • Inner Harbour
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    • Anne Frank Inspire Academy
  • 21st Century Schools
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  • Subscribe eNews