Commerical Numero Dos

Health Commerical

Melissa Label teaches my class Health. We decided to do a cross-curricular activity combining Health and ELA. Melissa taught the class about healthy and not so healthy eating. McDonald's commercials were watched and the students were challenged to come up with a catchy, fun commercial as well. The only catch was....it had to be for a healthy product. Our class made three commercials...here is the first one....Enjoy!

Please Give Me Something To LOOK At!

Currently I am trying not to scream in frustration at the top of my lungs. Besides being a special education teacher, I dabble in Casualty and Property insurance. Being a teacher, I have the opportunity to co-exist as both. Anyway, every two years I have to sit in 16 hours of continuing education credits...So, this is my current location....sitting in on a LECTURE of insurance babble. NO videos, NO pictures, NO visuals, NO technology Only the sound of the teachers voice....Now, even though the teacher is a cute little man....I am done listening...He is not even walking around....sitting behind his desk popping Tylenol for back pain. I think he is saying the same thing over and over again.... Every so often there is a wave of laughter throughout the class....I guess so people are able to focus....not me....I am what I teach... Short attention spans and the need to be intrigued. I am so not interested in what is going on....Now, I understand why my students doodle, tap, count ceiling tiles when I am discussing "facts" with them.....I need Pictures, Videos, Charts, Music, Cartoons anything to explain the information without boring them to death. Students, I understand.....I will try and make learning interesting.....I shall not lecture until you want to scream...If I do I am sure you will let me know.......Just SCREAM!

Keeping Busy in Class

I Love Lucy and Cognitivism

I love analogies. I am pretty much good for at least 5 to 10 daily. This not only helps me make sense of information for myself, but also allows me to explain things more clearly. However, I find in my special education classroom the students are really limited as far as things they are familiar with: pop culture, food, landmarks , music, celebrities etc... I am constantly giving analogies for my analogies and giving other examples until the students understand. It never dawned on me there are people that do not know about Lucille Ball or the Twilight Zone. I do have plans to show my class episodes of these classic shows. It is really important for the students to make a real life connection to concepts which are really abstract for them. Luckily I have computers and a projector. When I try to make a connection for the students and they still do not know what I am talking about I "google" and find an image. The other day we were discussing how Europeans brought over different diseases to the "New World" and I tried to explain the image of small pox. When I realized the students were not affected by, what I thought was a really gruesome description, I googled small pox and showed them images. Only then did I get the response I was looking for.
Technology is way to break down barriers for children, especially ones with disabilities. Technology can help increase the capabilities of these students. As a teacher it is my duty to provide the least restrictive environment for these children...and yes...utilize technology.
Here is an example of a lesson that will show technologies can help provide opportunities for students to access their prior knowledge and better organize new information:

The Boston Massacre
Students will

• Learn what happened during the Boston Massacre.
• Research different perspectives of this event.
• Have a class debate.

Materials

• Computer with Internet access
• Class Textbook
  

Procedures

1. Have students view "The Liberty Kids" video about the Boston Massacre
2. Briefly discuss the different viewpoints of the Boston Massacre: Colonists side or the British side
   
3. Then review what students saw in the video
   
   • Did the British really shoot for no reason?
   • Were the colonists, in fact, armed?
   • Did the colonists provoke the British soldiers?


4. Refer students to the following sites, where they can gather information to support their arguments.
   • Boston Massacre information
     http://www.crf-usa.org/bria/bria16_1.html#adams
     http://www.bostonmassacre.net/trial/index.htm
   • Crispus Attucks information http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2p24.html
   • Captain Preston's account
     http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/1751-1775/bostonmassacre/prest.htm
   • Anonymous eyewitness account
     http://www.bostonmassacre.net/trial/acct-anonymous1.htm
   • John Adams's trial speech
     http://www.bostonmassacre.net/trial/acct-adams1.htm
   • Theodore Bliss deposition
     http://www.bostonmassacre.net/trial/d-bliss.htm
   • Robert Goddard deposition
     http://www.bostonmassacre.net/trial/d-goddard.htm
   • Benjamin Burdick deposition
     http://www.bostonmassacre.net/trial/d-burdick.htm
   • Richard Palmes deposition
     http://www.bostonmassacre.net/trial/d-palmes.htm
   • John Hancock anniversary speech
     http://www.bostonmassacre.net/trial/acct-hancock1.htm
5. Students will be broken up into two groups. (Colonists and British) Students will have time in class to prepare for a debate. Students should write an opening statement and to think about the points they want to make in their closing arguments. Students will use Inspiration to organize their thoughts.
6. Students hold a debate. Debates will be videotaped
   
7. Conclude with a classroom discussion and watch video of debate. Students will analyze how they did.

An Inspiration

Before our class reads the book Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman, we discuss how we can make our community a better place. One of the things the students do is make a web on this topic. I had the worksheets already printed out and ready to go for this lesson. Most of the time when the students are asked to complete a graphic organizer they roll their eyes or let out a sigh of dissapointment. Perhaps it is because they know a writing assignment is following shortly. I had the C.O.W.S. this particular day and I guess I was inspired by all of the sighing in the class. So this 20 minute lesson became a two and half period lesson using the computer. I figured what was the difference if the students completed a web on paper with a pencil or using Inspiration on the computer. As soon as I told the students we were going to use the computer they straightened up in their seats and were ready to work. We went through step by step on how to make a web using Inspiration. The students were really on task and were having fun doing it. They were able to get creative using pictures from the clip art and changing the colors and textures around. My teacher assistants and myself were really impressed on how well the students worked. After we printed out their fantastic webs they used them to write paragraphs.

Scary or Exciting?

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