When the news is filled with the horrid events in Toulouse, France, it is so heartwarming to see this video.
Lauren Ornstein, an awesome teacher and musician who works with both Jewish and Arab students as an EfL teacher and counselor, is also a Music in Common volunteer in Israel.
This is their latest workshop video “Peace -Shalom – Salaam”, a song written and performed by both Jewish and Arab students. They also participated in video-taping the project.
If you listen carefully you will hear her in the background.
As Tyson Seburnt and I were discussing recently – build it and they will come, right?
But why is it so hard to convince teachers that sharing resources and ideas is in their best interests and will actually make life easier for them?
Epstein Family Photos
I gave a talk to another group of itinerant teachers today. The talk itself went well. We discussed issues regarding teaching reading to deaf and hard of hearing children, vocabulary acquisition and the tricky issue of the relationship with the classroom teacher. The teachers asked questions and shared tales from their work. There was a nice atmosphere.
At the end of my talk I showed them my Hebrew counseling blog. I title my posts there as answers to questions (instead of me repeating myself all the time!). I showed them how one can search by tag to find relevant posts. They expressed some interest in that (the post on using a word cloud caught some people’s attention, I think).
Then I went into my “motivational talk” mode and explained how this blog could serve them as a place to share resources. If they would tell me about a site they found helpful, a book or a strategy that worked well, I would post it. That way they could all benefit from each other’s ideas being in one place. For a resource collection to be truly useful the content must come from the teachers in the field.
The funny thing is that I’m reading this fantasy thriller about a lost island where highly dangerous animals have evolved completely differently, as a direct result of reading Bill Bryson’s book about Australia a few weeks ago.
As you know, I like to tell anyone who is willing to listen about what I read. Which means my husband and sons get full updates. When I was reading about Australia we discussed the part about the damage done by the rabbits brought to Australia. I had heard about it (I knew the term rabbit-proof –fence) but hadn’t really known that it had all started with so few rabbits and that the damage was that extensive.
Anyway, when my eldest heard about the rabbits he pulled the book “Fragment” off his shelf and said: “If you thought that was interesting then you must read this“. My other son chimed in that I should read it too. The book begins with very real factual information about the damage done by species from one environment invading another (interestingly though, the author doesn’t mention the rabbits in Australia). My husband then read the book (quickly, it is a thriller!).
So now I’m reading it too.
It is well written, very fast paced, with lots of amusing and intriguing details. You could have discussions on issues raised in the book! Think a modern, really up to date version of Jurassic Park but with no dinosaurs. However, I don’t like horror tales and skip a bit of the descriptions of how people met with their death. The book seems to be made for the big screen and I’m surprised it hasn’t been made into a movie yet. Though I probably wouldn’t watch it – reading about things is one thing, watching them is another!
Yes, I’m squeamish but I certainly recommend reading the book!
I know I’m tooting my own horn here, but it was very well received. Discussing a strategy to get some learning done while relating to what is completely distracting your class (and has caused you to throw your lesson plan out the window) using only the whiteboard and a marker seemed to really resonate with teachers. The plain whiteboard seems to still be the most widely used tool in the classroom.
Pondering on teachers’ interest in utilizing the whiteboard, in addition to an audible sense of relief that not everything today requires tech, I toyed with the idea of being the teacher who is known for giving no-tech talks at the conferences.
I knew I had time to think about it till the next conference.
The proposal form for the upcoming summer conference has just arrived.
I haven’t used any new strategies for the whiteboard (still really like the old one!).
In addition, most of what I’ve been actively learning this year has had to do with utilizing tech tools for online homework.
Even if I abandon the idea of being the teacher who presents simple” take this home and try it” strategies, that require nothing more than a whiteboard (at no-tech talks) I’m hesitant to plan a talk on online homework. I discussed this with a friend who is a “regular” high-school English teacher and he said that there is no way a teacher with 6 classes of 40 pupils could possibly deal with online homework the way I do with my small special-ed classes. Furthermore, presenting a bunch of tech tool without a framework of why they are worth using (in my case, for the online homework tasks I give) is not the kind of talk I would want to attend myself!
So, at the moment I’m finding my own talk a difficult act to follow and have not yet filled in the presenters form. I’ve presented at the conference many times before but have not had this quandary till now.
I just read that Jan Berenstain, co-creator of the delightful Berenstain Bears series of books for children, passed away recently, at the age of 88.
I was not aware that the first books had come out in the 60’s, as I don’t remember them from my own childhood. However, I enjoyed the books with my first niece and nephew in the 80’s, then with my own boys in the 90’s and am now enjoying these books again with my little niece and nephew, born in the 21st century!
Books that retain their appeal for children over such a span of time have my sincere admiration!
As I’ve been checking students’ first homework task using a word cloud for the past week, I find myself pondering this question.
Inspired by the activity described on the macappella blog, I created a word cloud from a text which my student teacher had just read with the students. The original activity involved creating sentences using words from the cloud in class. I assigned it as a homework task.
Since I give a short homework task once a week (which I always check!) it made a lot of sense to have students review the vocabulary taught by creating sentences using the vocabulary items from the text. If I relate to Christina Markoulaki’s list of benefits that can be derived from suitable homework tasks (post on the iTDi blog) this certainly was a task that looked attractive, was something they could do on their own (all my students use Google Translator for homework) and left room for creativity. The students were free to write about anything they wanted as long as they used at least one word from the cloud on each sentence.
So, you may ask, what is the problem?
If I get back to Christina’s list, she talks about homework being an opportunity to consolidate grammar and vocabulary.
The students certainly reviewed the vocabulary. That goal was achieved. Even if there was a grammatical error in the sentence (and believe me, there were grammatical errors) I accepted sentences in which the words were placed in the correct context, i.e. used correctly. Some of the students wrote sentences that were related to their own lives and were pleased when I was able to make comments related to their interests in class. That was really great!
However, the grammar aspect remains an unresolved issue. I had the opportunity to sit with some of the students individually in class and work on their sentences. Since we were working on their own original writing they were more attentive than usual to explanations about grammar when correcting the sentences. That was incredibly useful – those students had had reading comprehension (the original text), vocabulary practice AND grammar practice!
The rest of the students did not get this grammar practice. It is not possible to go into the same detail when replying to a student’s homework task by email. I do not want to return a task full of error markings (much more efficient to focus on one or two points). In addition, a student will not really read a long reply from me. In any case, long replies are not sustainable as giving homework on a weekly basis demands creating and checking it every week.
In short, giving word clouds for homework made it rain. But it seemed to rain harder when done either in class, or with a follow up in class. Learning curve hasn’t been completed yet…
When I find a book that has been recommended to me in the library, I make a point of NOT reading the blurb on the back cover. Once the decision to read the book has been made (this one was recommended by friend and fellow book-lover Vicky Loras) I don’t want any spoilers.
However, I couldn’t ignore the adjectives on the front cover: “compelling, funny, moving and full of life”.
I’m not quite sure yet what to make of the book even though I’ve read a third of it already. Certainly compelling – I would love to grab a blanket (it’s cold here!!) and continue reading.
“Funny” – not at all.
I find it a puzzling book – some of it seems like an intellectual puzzle or “swordplay with words”. Other parts seemed designed to shock.
Wednesday; my hardest day of the week. I teach from 8 till 3:30, 8 lessons in a row.
It’s the end of 7th period I have just used the last page of an impressively covered large memo pad we got from someone in the field of high-tech (he got it at some conference, I believe). 8th period had mercifully been cancelled and I should have been out of that classroom like a bolt of lightning (it was a stormy day, by the way!). If you had passed my classroom you would have seen me standing at the teacher’s desk, turning the cover this way and that, puzzling over what new use it could be put to as it seems such a shame to throw such a thing away.
It took me about 10 minutes before I resolutely decided that I could think about it tomorrow and leave!
Scene Two:
I read a post entitled “Google form as Choose your own Adventure Tool” and off I went, my fingers itching to create one of my own. Luckily (for me) I had no time to try this out before thinking about it virtually.
Hmmm, seems like quite a bit of work, creating all these different options for a storyline.
Hmmm, if I give it for homework, then there won’t be much to check as they can just send me the ending to their story. GREAT! However, how do I know that a pupil didn’t randomly choose options and then sent me whatever ending came out? Surely I would have to add something extra to address this issue. Sigh…
Hmmm, it would be better if kids created the options on their own because in the process of creation they are learning more that when taking it. However, with my students it is so much easier for them to do things after they have experienced them rather than to explain things theoretically. Therefore I would stillhave to create one on my own if I wanted the students to understand what to do. Did I say that seems like a lot of work?
Did I say that I would still like to try it?
Scene Three
I used word clouds for a homework task. Some of the students don’t have Java on their computers and cannot see the cloud. So I’m emailing them the cloud as a Jpeg attachment…
Those are examples from just one week!
Perhaps I should ask Brad Patterson if there is any etymological connection between creativity and masochism!
This morning I got up at 04:50 AM (!!!!) and went with my husband to Ein Gedi (near the Dead Sea) as he was participating in the 10 km race there.
Naturally, I took my book with me.
Reading in a public place while waiting, is basically similar in all places, whether it is a waiting room in a clinic, your child’s swimming lesson or for a race to end.
It’s not the same as reading at home.
There are people walking by, claiming or vacating the seat next to you, there may be background music or loudspeakers with announcements (at the race there were all of the above).
More importantly, you have to keep an eye on the time. How long do you have left before your child exits that door or until you have to be ready with the camera at the finish line.
In short, reading without relaxation.
But, in my opinion, still worthwhile!
The trick to making the most of reading in such situations is having suitable reading material. I don’t think I would have managed to read an academic article (or anything else that requires serious concentration) this morning. However, I’m still reading the fascinating book “The Tiger’s Wife” by Tea Obreht , a book which easily “draws me in”. So, despite stopping frequently, I was very glad I had brought the book!
Teaching English as a FOREIGN language to Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students
