Monday, November 17, 2008
The Story Behind "The Original Gadget Girl"
So now, a little story for you. Many of you have been following along with me over the past months, but we have a huge number (hundreds!) of new people who have joined us. That is one reason I have been feeling the need to create a forum for sharing and growing together.
I would love for us to be able to share. So many of you have great things that you share with me, yet the whole group can benefit from what you are doing around the world. Yes, that is right. People from all over the world have downloaded the activities and lessons and are working to improve technology education for teachers and students.
Some of you are very funny when I respond to your emails and you are shocked that I would
have the time to personally answer your messages.
That is why tonight I just wanted to give you a little bit of information about who I am...the
gadget girl behind the computer...behind the logo..
For one, as I write these emails to you and create all those lessons, I am just sitting in my
dining room in Mt. Clemens, Michigan. This is a suburb outside the city of Detroit.
I am a single mom of 2 girls...Kate who is 10 and Hannah who is 8. I have been a single mom
for six years now. Becoming a single mom was actually the best thing that could have happened
to me...personally and professionally.
During the day I am a media specialist and I teach computers to K-6th grades and run the library.
At night I turn into "The Original Gadget Girl" and burn the midnight oil while writing articles, lessons and activities to help teachers and students around the globe. (I don't watch TV...the key to time management for me!)
I see teachers all around me overwhelmed by the demands of testing, test prep, and curriculum.
There just doesn't ever seem to be enough time in the day for everything you want to do.
Going to conferences and learning new ideas is great, but then you have to learn it, figure out
how to make it work in your classroom, and then design lessons and rubrics to use. This is where I think I can help. I've taught preschool through adult education classes. I've taught Master's level education classes, and spent time as a technology trainer for teachers. What if I just give you some activities that are quality and ready to use with your students?
This is my main goal: Help you use technology with your students with ease and pleasure while eliminating your stress and saving you time!
And on a final note, I just had to share my wacky "gadget girl" gizmo for the day.....in my 1927 house I am lacking a fireplace. Someday I dream of living in a house with more than one bathroom....a house with closets (didn't they wear more than one outfit back in the 1920s?)....and a house with a fireplace... So, at Walgreens, Hannah and I found a DVD that
turns your big screen TV into a crackling fire! Finally, I've found the fireplace I've always wanted along with a use for the TV that I never watch!
Thank you so much for your support,
I'll talk to you again soon....
Kathy Cothran
"The Original Gadget Girl"
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Thanksgiving: Fact Or Myth? Teaching Children to Investigate the Story Behind Thanksgiving
Is what we celebrate in America today based on fact or myth? Did the pilgrims and the Native Americans really have a peaceful relationship that lead to a beautiful sharing feast? What primary documents exist to document the historical event?
Dispelling the myths and finding out what historians have to say on this topic is one of my favorite lessons of the Thanksgiving season. I share a comprehensive website that helps illustrate and teach the history behind the holiday.
Even the opening of the website can be dramatic and I add drama by reading it in a voice that gets the attention of the students. Then we imagine our trip in the time machine back to 1621.
Within the website, you can first sort pictures based on myth and fact. Next, view the only primary document about the Harvest Celebration of 1621 written by Edward Winslow. The historians help you to understand what is written and help you and your students draw conclusions.
Another segment of the website allows you to delve deeper into the lives of the English Colonists and the Wampanoag People.
Extremely interesting is examining the time line leading up to the 1621 Harvest Celebration and the opposing points of view. Most students (and adults) have never heard these specific pieces of information or facts from history. Seeing the story from both points of view is integral to the learning of the truths behind the holiday that we celebrate today.
The website does provide a teacher’s guide. The ages of your students will dictate how much of the site you will share together. It usually takes me almost a complete hour to share the whole site with upper elementary students. With lower elementary children I pick and choose what aspects I want to address and shorten the lesson.
Concluding the lesson I focus on what we believed to be true when we started and some key differences we learned and then how we can share these with our family members as we gather around our own feasts to give thanks. One key point I try to make sure everyone learns is that a "Day of Thanksgiving" for the colonists meant a very long day in church. What they were engaging in was actually a Harvest Celebration and how these two ideas merge for us as people who have much to be thankful for and really don’t worry too much about the harvest to sustain us through the winter.
Visit http://plimoth.org/education/olc/ to experience this website for yourself and to share with your students.
Download a free resource packet that includes this activity along with more Thanksgiving Ideas and Activities at http://technologylessonsforteachers.com
Giving Thanks: a Tricky Thanksgiving Activity That Makes Kids Think & Truly Be Grateful
Can we really be thankful for doing dishes and laundry? Can we be thankful for cleaning up after our pets out in the yard?
Having students reflect upon aspects of their lives to be thankful is a common activity. Kids tend to just think of an idea and jot it down without really thinking about what it really means. In this activity students are required to think of aspects of their lives that they wouldn’t normally see as something to be thankful for, and put a positive spin on the event.
For instance, “I am thankful for doing dishes because it means my family has food to eat” or “I am thankful for cleaning up after my pet in the backyard because it means that I have a furry companion that always loves me.” “I am thankful for cleaning my room because it means that my family has a house to live in.”
In order for students to follow the pattern of the book I write “I am thankful for _____________ because it means ____________.” on the board. Some years I have even had to write under the first line, “something I dislike” to remind the students.
I have done this project in a couple different ways.
One is to use a wordprocessing software to type the words in a large font at the bottom of the page. I have the students change the page set up to landscape. After printing the students use multiple media to design the illustration from construction paper to marker, crayon, and paint. Or, using construction paper as the background, students can cut out their words and glue them to the background.
Two, students can design an entire page in a drawing program such as KidPix and add words to the bottom of the page.
Three, capture the pages electronically (either by scanning or holding in front of a camera) and put them into a slideshow, add audio of each child sharing their statement, and then publish as a podcast.
This concept of choosing something you hate to be thankful for and adding what it means seems to be difficult for children under fourth grade.
If you would like to attempt this activity with younger students, you may have more success if you compile a whole list of brainstorming ideas for the first section of the statement (for what they dislike) and then they have to choose one of those. Then they might be able to figure out the second half. If they don't nail the first half they go way off course! You will definitely see who has higher level thinking skills emerging!
Overall, this activity gets students thinking about the aspects of their life that they most complain about and putting those into a positive light. I often remind them that there are people all over the world who would be grateful for having a bed to make, a house to clean, and food to clear off of the table.
Download a free resource packet that includes samples of this activity along with more Thanksgiving Ideas and Activities at http://technologylessonsforteachers.com
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Thanksgiving
Have you had time to take a breath yet? It sure has been a busy school year so far....and it just doesn't seem to be slowing down! Last week I shared some Veterans Day ideas with you. Have you had a chance to download those yet? My students have written the letters and I'm mailing them to the Veterans homes in Michigan. Some of the thoughts from the students were so much fun to read!
So, the next thing on our agenda is Thanksgiving! It will be here before we know it!
So, just in case you haven't had the chance to devise some outstanding lessons and find some excellent books, I've put together some ideas and activities for you.
In case you'd like a quick introductory video, you can see it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15_LWMYETlY
Hannah (my 8-year-old daughter and videographer....) and I had fun outside this evening making this video...It isn't great...but we only used my still-shot digital camera to record! (Another easy option for your students to make videos.)
You can download the Thanksgiving Ideas and Activities at:
http://technologylessonsforteachers.com
Monday, November 3, 2008
Real Life Heroes
Real Life Heroes
An essay written by an assistant principal in Ohio.
By J. Bradley:
"Where are the heroes of today?" a radio talk show host thundered.
He blames society's shortcomings on education. Too many people are looking for heroes in all the wrong places. Movie stars and rock musicians, athletes, and models aren't heroes; they're celebrities.
Heroes abound in public schools, a fact that doesn't make the news. There is no precedent for the level of violence, drugs, broken homes, child abuse, and crime in today's America. Education didn't create these
problems but deals with them every day.
You want heroes?
Consider Dave Sanders, the schoolteacher shot to death while trying to shield his students from two youths on a shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Sanders gave his life, along with 12
students, and other less heralded heroes survived the Colorado blood bath.
You want heroes?
Jane Smith, a Fayetteville, NC teacher, was moved by the plight of one of her students, a boy dying for want of a kidney transplant. So this woman told the family of a 14-year-old boy that she would give him one of her
kidneys. And she did. When they appeared together hugging on the Today Show, Katie Couric was near tears.
You want heroes?
Doris Dillon dreamed all her life of being a teacher. She not only made it, she was one of those wondrous teachers who could bring the best out of every single child. One of her fellow teachers in San Jose, Calif., said,
"She could teach a rock to read."
Suddenly she was stricken with Lou Gehrig's Disease which is always fatal,usually within five years. She asked to stay on job ... and did. When her voice was affected, she communicated by computer.
Did she go home? Absolutely not! She is running two elementary school libraries! When the disease was diagnosed, she wrote the staff and all the families that she had one last lesson to teach .... that dying is part of living. Her colleagues named her Teacher of the Year.
You want heroes?
Bob House, a teacher in Georgia, tried out for "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?". After he won the million dollars, a network film crew wanted to follow up to see how it had impacted his life. New cars? Big new house? Instead, they found both Bob House and his wife still teaching. They explained that it was what they had always wanted to do with their lives and that would not change. The community was both stunned and grateful.
You want heroes?
Last year the average school teacher spent $468 of their own money for student necessities ... workbooks, pencils .. supplies kids had to have but could not afford. That's a lot of money from the pockets of the most poorly paid teachers in the industrial world.
Schools don't teach values? The critics are dead wrong.
Public education provides more Sunday School teachers than any other profession.
The average teacher works more hours in nine months than the average 40-hour employee does in a year.
You want heroes?
For millions of kids, the hug they get from a teacher is the only hug they will get that day because the nation is living through the worst parenting in history.
An Argyle, Texas kindergarten teacher hugs her little 5 and 6 year-olds so much that both the boys and the girls run up and hug her when they see her in the hall, at the football games, or in the malls years later.
A Michigan principal moved me to tears with the story of her attempt to rescue a badly abused little boy who doted on a stuffed animal on her desk... one that said "I love you!" He said he'd never been told that at home.
This is a constant in today's society .. two million unwanted, unloved, abused children in the public schools, the only institution that takes them all in.
You want heroes?
Visit any special education class and watch the miracle of personal interaction, a job so difficult that fellow teachers are awed by the dedication they witness. There is a sentence from an unnamed source which says: "We have been so eager to give our children what we didn't have that we have neglected to give them what we did have."
What is it that our kids really need?
What do they really want?
Math, science, history, and social studies are important, but children need love, confidence, encouragement, someone to talk to, someone to listen, standards to live by. Teachers provide upright examples, the faith and assurance of responsible people.
You want heroes?
Then go down to your local school and see our real live heroes - the ones changing lives for the better each and every day!
Now, pass this on to someone you know who's a teacher, or to someone who should thank a teacher today. I'd like to see this sent to all those who cut down the importance of teachers. They have no idea who a public school teacher is or what they do.
An essay written by an assistant principal in Ohio.
By J. Bradley:
"Where are the heroes of today?" a radio talk show host thundered.
He blames society's shortcomings on education. Too many people are looking for heroes in all the wrong places. Movie stars and rock musicians, athletes, and models aren't heroes; they're celebrities.
Heroes abound in public schools, a fact that doesn't make the news. There is no precedent for the level of violence, drugs, broken homes, child abuse, and crime in today's America. Education didn't create these
problems but deals with them every day.
You want heroes?
Consider Dave Sanders, the schoolteacher shot to death while trying to shield his students from two youths on a shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Sanders gave his life, along with 12
students, and other less heralded heroes survived the Colorado blood bath.
You want heroes?
Jane Smith, a Fayetteville, NC teacher, was moved by the plight of one of her students, a boy dying for want of a kidney transplant. So this woman told the family of a 14-year-old boy that she would give him one of her
kidneys. And she did. When they appeared together hugging on the Today Show, Katie Couric was near tears.
You want heroes?
Doris Dillon dreamed all her life of being a teacher. She not only made it, she was one of those wondrous teachers who could bring the best out of every single child. One of her fellow teachers in San Jose, Calif., said,
"She could teach a rock to read."
Suddenly she was stricken with Lou Gehrig's Disease which is always fatal,usually within five years. She asked to stay on job ... and did. When her voice was affected, she communicated by computer.
Did she go home? Absolutely not! She is running two elementary school libraries! When the disease was diagnosed, she wrote the staff and all the families that she had one last lesson to teach .... that dying is part of living. Her colleagues named her Teacher of the Year.
You want heroes?
Bob House, a teacher in Georgia, tried out for "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?". After he won the million dollars, a network film crew wanted to follow up to see how it had impacted his life. New cars? Big new house? Instead, they found both Bob House and his wife still teaching. They explained that it was what they had always wanted to do with their lives and that would not change. The community was both stunned and grateful.
You want heroes?
Last year the average school teacher spent $468 of their own money for student necessities ... workbooks, pencils .. supplies kids had to have but could not afford. That's a lot of money from the pockets of the most poorly paid teachers in the industrial world.
Schools don't teach values? The critics are dead wrong.
Public education provides more Sunday School teachers than any other profession.
The average teacher works more hours in nine months than the average 40-hour employee does in a year.
You want heroes?
For millions of kids, the hug they get from a teacher is the only hug they will get that day because the nation is living through the worst parenting in history.
An Argyle, Texas kindergarten teacher hugs her little 5 and 6 year-olds so much that both the boys and the girls run up and hug her when they see her in the hall, at the football games, or in the malls years later.
A Michigan principal moved me to tears with the story of her attempt to rescue a badly abused little boy who doted on a stuffed animal on her desk... one that said "I love you!" He said he'd never been told that at home.
This is a constant in today's society .. two million unwanted, unloved, abused children in the public schools, the only institution that takes them all in.
You want heroes?
Visit any special education class and watch the miracle of personal interaction, a job so difficult that fellow teachers are awed by the dedication they witness. There is a sentence from an unnamed source which says: "We have been so eager to give our children what we didn't have that we have neglected to give them what we did have."
What is it that our kids really need?
What do they really want?
Math, science, history, and social studies are important, but children need love, confidence, encouragement, someone to talk to, someone to listen, standards to live by. Teachers provide upright examples, the faith and assurance of responsible people.
You want heroes?
Then go down to your local school and see our real live heroes - the ones changing lives for the better each and every day!
Now, pass this on to someone you know who's a teacher, or to someone who should thank a teacher today. I'd like to see this sent to all those who cut down the importance of teachers. They have no idea who a public school teacher is or what they do.
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