Posts

Showing posts from June, 2014

Photography in the Classroom

I first bought a digital camera when I came to Japan in 2003. Since that time I have gotten more serious and have spent a fair amount of money on it. I have also changed the way I use the pictures I take in the classroom. I started out taking pictures of the students in action and putting them up around the room or outside of the classroom. I still do that, but I have extended it to taking pictures for other teachers in the school as well as in my own classroom. I also decided that the one page my students get in the yearbook did not come close to accurately

Continental Draft

Image
A while back at one of our school's PD days I was introduced to a video call Austin's Butterfly Drafts . This video shows the power feedback and how students can improve through the feedback cycle. We are in how we organize ourselves unit we are studying communities and I found an opportunity for the students to use each others critiques to make their original map better. The students are reading a book called Me on the Map . We are making a flip book based on Me on the Map that starts as continent and moves to country, city, street, house and down through the layers to the students own bedroom. Yesterday I had students draw a picture of Asia. I did project an image of it and passed out some iPads so that they could have the image to look at while they drew. Some students surprisingly could do a really good job, and others were rather lazy with their drawings and could clearly improve. Today I showed the kids the video about Austin and w...

Understanding by Design - Chapter 3

Standards and Big Ideas Standards provide teachers with a "focus" for which they teach. Big Ideas from Lynn Erickson (2001) Broad and abstract Represented by one or two words Universal in application Timeless--carry through the ages Represented by different examples that share common attributes (Erickson 2001 p. 35) Wiggins and McTigue go on talking about how Ercikson's list of big ideas can be generalized (p. 69) Providing a focusing conceptual lens for any study Providing breadth of meaning by connecting and organizing many facts, skills, and experiences; serving as the linchpin of understanding Pointing to ideas at the heart of expert understanding of a subject Requiring "uncoverage" because its meaning or value is rarely obvious to the learner, is counterintuitive or prone to misunderstanding Having great transfer value; applying to many other inquiries and issues over time--"horizontally" (across subjects) and "verticall...

SECRUOSER - A Natural Resources Adventure Role Play

Image
Our Planet Earth The decisions we make can affect the planet. 1. The extraction and use of natural resources. 2. Current environmental issues in Japan and the world. 3. Responsible decision making: exploring the difference that we can make. When I saw natural resources, my thoughts drifted back to my first year working at TIS. At that time I was teaching PE, and I would drift in and out of classrooms when I could, and I remember very clearly seeing a bulletin board with trees on it, then a few weeks later the trees were cut in half. When I asked about it, the Grade 3-4 teacher told me they were learning about resources and he used that as a kind of role play. Fast forward to this year and I was faced with a natural resources unit, so I decided to give it a shot. The yellow boxes show where the students wanted to build houses. I first set the landscape. I created an area modeled after Miyagi, Japan (where we are). I first talked with the students about the...

Rainy Day Activity - Make Three Equal Groups

Image
Most of Japan is in the midst in the rainy season. Rainy season is sandwiched in between spring and summer. Today was a rainy day. I dread rainy days; especially when I am on recess duty. The students seem especially energetic on rainy days, and not having a chance to run around outside can cause some problems. Right in the middle of an outdoor recess today it started raining enough so that we had to come inside. When all the students were in, I began sorting them into three lines. The students were being slow and two of the lines were much longer than the third. Having seen this before, and knowing that it would take the rest of the recess period to get them lined up, I made a snap decision and called out, "Stop!" "Divide yourselves into three equal groups." From there the students spent the next five minutes trying to figure it out. It was interesting to see which students did not follow directions correctly and started making groups o...

Life After High School - A Student Council Event

Image
I knew it was a good idea when I heard it. This was the kind of event I had hoped we would have more of when I became involved in the Student Council.  Back in January a former student emailed the current Student Council President with an idea to have former students come to the school and share their experiences. I knew it would be a great experience for the current students since they will be moving onto college from a school with less than 100 students and regular contact with only three high school teachers. 2014 Life After Tis STUDENT COUNCIL EVENTGraduates around the world | Create Infographics It was not easy to get it set up as there were several obstacles to overcome. There was a time when I did not think that it would ever happen. After we had a date, it was time to gather attendees. The President reached out to the alumni through Facebook. To those who were interested in attending, the Student Council sent them a short sur...