EXPANDING MINDS

This year’s game plan:

One single 2” binder with a zipper (if possible) The idea is for all subjects to be in the same place. Home works are filed along with the notes considering they are “extensions and practice of the same unit”

CAVEAT: if you lose it you loose the whole shebang.

Urban Dictionary, LLC

Website

Urban Dictionary is a Web-based dictionary that contains nearly eight million definitions as of June 29, 2014. Wikipedia

a·poth·e·o·sis noun the highest point in the development of something; culmination or climax. "his appearance as Hamlet was the apotheosis of his career" the elevation of someone to divine status; deification.

a·nach·ro·nism əˈnakrəˌnizəm/Submit noun a thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists, especially a thing that is conspicuously old-fashioned. "everything was as it would have appeared in centuries past apart from one anachronism, a bright yellow construction crane" an act of attributing a custom, event, or object to a period to which it does not belong.

lan·guid ˈlaNGgwid/Submit adjective 1. (of a person, manner, or gesture) displaying or having a disinclination for physical exertion or effort; slow and relaxed. "they turned with languid movements from back to front so as to tan evenly" synonyms: relaxed, unhurried, languorous, slow; More antonyms: energetic (of an occasion or period of time) pleasantly lazy and peaceful. "the terrace was perfect for languid days in the Italian sun" synonyms: leisurely, languorous, relaxed, restful, lazy More antonyms: action-packed 2. weak or faint from illness or fatigue. "she was pale, languid, and weak, as if she had delivered a child" synonyms: sickly, weak, faint, feeble, frail, delicate; More

cir·cum·spect ˈsərkəmˌspekt/Submit adjective wary and unwilling to take risks. "the officials were very circumspect in their statements" synonyms: cautious, wary, careful, chary, guarded, on one's guard; More

I might not survive this post with its blasphemous title. Alas.

You learn to use a dictionary since you are very young.  It is one of those skills they made you practice over and over and over and over and over.  You can definitely find those words in scrabble now.

Not that you have any idea what they mean, nor do you care to. But you feel clever. 

You tell your kids, this is a life skill you will need for ever and ever and ever. 

But here goes the apotheosis - the digital word processing and related tools. 

I am not saying you should not teach your students to look in alphabetical order.  Oh no.  That would be silly.  After all, they need to learn to use the index, the online library catalog, and of course, find their name on an alphabetized roster.  

However (my favorite word)

NO ONE USES A DICTIONARY IN THE PRESENT DAY!  Well, in the first world countries, which is another battle all together. 

You have google - wikipedia - phone apps - web apps - tablets - electronic dictionaries - electronic thesaurus - on and on and on

You now want your students to learn a plethora of words, how to use them, manipulate them.  For this, a dictionary is obsolete.  As they sit in class writing an essay they will waste a good 15 minutes finding a synonym.  Or while reading a common core approved informational text, it will take them another 15 minutes to find that tricky word, and another 15 to understand what the heck the definition means, and then which one to choose.  Sure, they have the skill, but they just forgot what they were reading or writing to begin with.  

Other side of the same story. 

As they sit in class writing an essay they will spend 3 minutes finding a synonym in a digital thesaurus and enriching their work.  Or, while reading that common core approved informational text, they will spend 5 minutes finding the word on their phone, and using the pop-up dictionary or images to support the definition if needed.  BAM! 

In my classroom I use an electronic thesaurus.  It has synonyms as well as antonyms.  Besides all of the obvious uses in reading and writing, it allows for more vocabulary enrichment: during class discussions.  

(Yes, they learned their content vocabulary with those nifty graphic organizers, and they have learned their academic vocabulary with those clever anchor charts...but)

But people, think outside of your box, and your graphic organizer, and your anchor charts.  You are allowed to use even more words.  Yes, you are.  The students take their gadget and make use of it even when they are not supposed to.  And they really should know better than trying to use learning tools outside of learning time.  Shame on them.  

The Rational list after learning the hard way to keep them organized

zipper binder

with pencil pocket

student planner

with minimum gimmicks and little pearls of wisdom (I'm sure they can live without them)

electronic thesaurus

(sorry, but dictionaries are out) (ohh, that might not get me many friends) but more on that later.

mechanical pencils

How can it be that we are on the first of August and already I have gone to the Staples sales isles, 

have shopped online for notebooks, 

am looking for clothes for the first day ... ON AND ON it goes. 

Fifteen years ago, teachers and students were creating hand-made books, dioramas, collages, projects, models, painting, drawing, making...

This was fifteen years ago.  Today, the passionate teacher responsible for the student-made book on recycling is an Assistant Principal and the ELA head of her current school.  

She brought this treasure. 

She shared it with us, her ELA team.  She encouraged us to expand our horizons when we taught hard tasks.  

HOWEVER

Do not, I repeat, do not, do it in her school or her ELA program if it interferes in any way with the Expeditionary Learning curriculum, or the common core goals for the week!!!

So there have been tons of links posted on my blog lately, but it is crucial to get the research to help us all out in these "testing" times.

How the *** do I get my Special Needs, bilingual students (emergent bilingual many of them) to succeed on the standardized state tests (in English mind you).  Why should we have them worry about state tests when we all know they do not show student learning or skills. 

In fact, this takes me to a tangent -- why are students paying the price for teachers having to teach to the test, sacrificing art, music, sports, and even other 21st century electives like programing and technology??!!

And forget about teaching values, character, and life skills; those aren't important and won't lead your students to success.  AHHH...but knowing how to calculate the distance between two trains approaching each other at constant speeds when one left the station at a certain hour with x miles from the next station....you get the point.

So this all brings me back to my high number of links on the blog.  There must be a secret out there on how to get students with this particular demographic to succeed on the famed state tests, without sacrificing the crucial elements of learning: arts, character, life lessons, and the WORST, WORST word (according to administrators and policy makers)

FUN.

Forget Fun.

Finish Fun.

Finite Fun.

RIP Fun.

Ed Week Blog on ELL's