Teaching Dance K-12
Two teachers with contrasting training and approaches to teaching bring rich dance experiences to students at their arts–based schools. Kathy DeJean, the dance specialist at Lusher Alternative Elementary School in New Orleans , promotes inquiry and self-expression in a multi-grade dance class. Scott Pivnik, a former physical education teacher at P.S. 156 (The Waverly School of the Arts) in Brooklyn , New York , uses African dance as a gateway to geography, writing, and personal growth for a class of second–graders. http://www.learner.org/resources/series165.html
Teaching Music - Elem
Two music specialists from arts–based schools demonstrate different approaches to serving diverse student populations. At Harmony Leland Elementary School in Mableton , Georgia , all 500 students study the violin. Their classes with Barrett Jackson become lessons in character and discipline. At Smith Renaissance School of the Arts in Denver , Sylvia Bookhardt and a class of fifth–graders explore the Renaissance through choral singing. http://www.learner.org/resources/series165.html
Teaching Visual Art - Elem
Two visual art specialist teachers use contrasting interpretations of the human face to explore inquiry–based instruction and various techniques in visual art. Pamela Mancini, the visual art teacher at Helen Street School in Hamden , Connecticut , uses portraits to foster inquiry and self-expression with a class of fifth-graders. At Ridgeway Elementary School in White Plains , New York , MaryFrances Perkins introduces mask–making to a second–grade art class. In making their own masks, students examine the concept of symmetry, study the vocabulary word for the day, and learn that masks are found in cultures throughout the world. http://www.learner.org/resources/series165.html
3. Workshop 3: Addressing the Diverse Needs of Students
Arts teachers are aware of and respond to the many differences they find among their students. In this session, participants meet a visiting theatre artist who takes advantage of the different backgrounds and learning styles of ninth-graders to help them understand and embrace the playwriting process. A visual art teacher brings together honors art students and students with disabilities, so they can learn from each other. As a music teacher works with different classes, she addresses needs common to all students. Finally, in a movement class for non-dance majors, teachers help students explore human anatomy. http://www.learner.org/resources/series202.html
8. Workshop 8: Nurturing Independent Thinkers - HS
Arts teachers use formal and informal strategies to assess their students’ progress and to modify their own teaching practice. In this session, participants meet a vocal music teacher who splits his choir into groups that give each other feedback; he also has students tape-record themselves during rehearsal, so he can judge their individual progress. A dance teacher critiques original choreography by a student and asks her peers to participate in the process; this feedback helps the student deepen the impact of her work. Next, theatre teachers give an in-depth critique to a student, and then ask him for feedback on their teaching. Finally, a visual art teacher helps students develop their observation and analysis skills throughout their high school careers, so they learn to be their own best critics.
http://www.learner.org/resources/series202.html
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Happy New Year!
Japanese II, grades 10–12: Students learn about some common products and practices of the Japanese New Year’s celebration. Leslie Birkland’s class splits into two groups: One sings New Year’s songs, writes cards, and plays cultural games, while the other discusses New Year’s food and decorations. After switching activities, the class reconvenes to compare the Japanese New Year’s celebration with those of other cultures. http://www.learner.org/resources/series185.html
Promoting Attractions of Japan
Japanese III–IV, grades 10–12: As part of a larger unit on the geography and culture of Japan , students learn the major regions and cities and discuss popular tourist destinations. Using timed activities, including a fast-paced Jeopardy-style quiz game, Yo Azama assesses students on recall and recognition. As a culminating project, students create a travel brochure and begin planning a promotional video to attract visitors to Japan . http://www.learner.org/resources/series185.html
HEALTH
Video Journal VCR Tape Collections – “Differentiating Instruction to Meet the Needs of All Students”, elem and secondary editions are available from the SRESD media center collections – Great content area cross-curriculum.
INDUSTRIAL ARTS
Joint effort by professors at Fuqua, Harvard, and Tuck Business Schools and students at Dartmouth College offers tool for locating industrial pollution and environmental protection activities of over 20,000 facilities across the US (video) http://www.world-wire.com/news/0712030003.html
INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY
Check out the lesson plans, not videos, for integrating technology K-12 across all content areas based on MI standards, developed by teachers in MI . http://techplan.edzone.net/ci2006/Designing Toys: Stacy Lewis, art teacher, Mount Horeb Intermediate Center Students in Stacy’s art classes are designing toys and creating cars using technology to research their projects, includes short videos. http://www.ecb.org/ttt/TTT_segment1.php?seg=117
Robots: Steve Jenning’s 8th graders at Holmen Middle School are designing, building and programming robots as part of the Tech Ed curriculum. Math, science, and technology are all wrapped up into the two week long robotics lab, includes short videos. http://www.ecb.org/ttt/TTT_results1.php
Home design: Students in Donald and Dave’s construction trades class, Ray’s computer-aided design class, Kathy’s interior design class, and Gerald’s landscape design class gain valuable hands-on vocational experience as they design, build, decorate, and landscape houses that the district then sells, includes short videos. http://www.ecb.org/ttt/TTT_segment1.php?seg=109
MATH
25. Balloon Travel - Elem
In an integrated math/science lesson, second- and third-graders collect data to answer questions such as, "What is the farthest a balloon can travel before falling?" To answer the question, they must understand distance, volume, capacity, and time. NCTM standards: measurement, estimation, connection, problem solving.
http://www.learner.org/resources/series32.html
6. Case Study: Building Rafts With Rods - Middle School
Seventh- and eighth-grade students are challenged to calculate the surface area and volume of a raft built with 1 to 10 rods, graph their data, develop a formula for the task, and write a question that will explain the task to subsequent classes. The activity helps their teacher assess their ability to recognize patterns and develop functions. http://www.learner.org/resources/series31.html
Quadratic Functions - HS
In Part I, Tremain Nelson and his students use a basketball toss as a launching point to learn how the constants in the equation y = a(x - h) 2 k transform the parent function y = x 2. In Part II, Tremain and the students apply what they learned in the previous lesson to model several bounces of a ball dropped below a motion detector. (Watch first 30 minutes)
http://www.learner.org/resources/series196.html
SCIENCE
This site links to the science companion documents for the Michigan High School Content Expectations. These documents have examples of how to differentiate lessons for high school science.
http://www.michigan.gov
This site links to the mathematics clarification documents for the Michigan High School Content Expectations. These documents have examples of how to differentiate lessons for high school mathematics.
P.E.
/mde/0,1607,7-140-28753_38684_28760-171474–,00.html
READING
Differentiating Instruction (K-2 Reading )
In this session, the effects of common classroom grouping practices on children’s achievement in reading are disc us sed and scrutinized. Teachers will examine grouping practices in classroom video clips and discuss applications in their own practice. http://www.learner.org/resources/series175.html
K-3 Launching Literacy Stations with Debbie Diller – DVD’s: Program 1 available from the SRESD media center.
Workshop 5. New Literacies of the Internet (Grades 3-5 Reading )
This workshop focuses on the evolving use of networked technology in education. Literacy expert Donald Leu discusses strategies that help students effectively read, write, and communicate on the Internet. Classroom examples illustrate strategies for using Internet resources in the classroom. http://www.learner.org/resources/series204.html
Workshop 1. Reader Response: Pat Mora and James Welch - HS
In Part I, Alfredo Lujan and his students at the Monte del Sol school in Santa Fe , New Mexico , explore My Own True Name, Pat Mora’s collection of poetry for teens and young adults. Pat Mora visits the classroom and shares her poetry with students. In Part II, Greg Hirst’s Wolf Point High School students on the Fort Peck reservation in Wolf Point, Montana, respond to the literature of Native American writer James Welch. http://www.learner.org/resources/series178.html
SCIENCE
Workshop 2. Drag Races - Elem
Forces can help put objects into motion and can also bring moving objects to a stop. In this workshop, fifth-grade students explore the physics of motion using plastic cars with strings and washers attached to provide a pulling force. The students test the speed of the vehicles and explain what forces bring the vehicles to a stop, as the cars collide with and displace barriers at the end of their run. Finally, the students discuss their findings to help solidify their understanding of the effect of forces on motion.
http://www.learner.org/resources/series136.html
Workshop 2. Setting the Stage: Creating a Learning Community MS
At the heart of inquiry teaching and learning is a positive environment that encourages and supports students on their learning paths. This program looks at what is needed for building that foundation and preparing your students for inquiry investigations. http://www.learner.org/resources/series129.html
Workshop 2. Eliciting Students’ Prior Knowledge (90 min.) K-8
Why begin a lesson by eliciting students’ prior knowledge? Because as many teachers know, it is essential to know what students believe at the outset in order to provide the instruction necessary to help them move toward a more scientific understanding. There are many ways of eliciting prior knowledge, including strategies such as concept mapping, pretests, and interpretation of a demonstration by students. This program will examine many of these strategies. http://www.learner.org/resources/series90.html#program_descriptions
Session 11. Biology of Sex and Gender – MS & HS
Several genes help determine what makes a human embryo develop female or male sexual anatomies. This session examines recent findings which have challenged previous beliefs about the roles of anatomy, environment, and genetics in the determination of gender, and the evolution of sexual determination. http://www.learner.org/resources/series187.html
Session 8. Cell Biology and Cancer - HS
Cancers result when genes required for normal cell function are mutated and the resulting cells undergo other changes ultimately leading to uncontrolled division. This session reveals new information on normal cell function, proto-oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes and their role in the cell cycle, and current research in drug design for specific cancers. http://www.learner.org/resources/series187.html
This site links to the science companion documents for the Michigan High School Content Expectations. These documents have examples of how to differentiate lessons for high school science.
http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7-140-28753_38684_28760-171474–,00.html
SOCIAL STUDIES
6. Making Bread Together - K
Meylin Gonzalez is a kindergarten teacher in Tampa , Florida . Ms. Gonzalez uses this lesson to introduce her students to several economic concepts, including production and cooperation. Using a children’s book as a guide, Ms. Gonzalez reviews with her students how people work cooperatively on an assembly line to make a product. The students then experience the concepts of production and distribution through an activity in which they create an assembly line in the classroom and prepare hand–made bread. http://www.learner.org/resources/series166.html
7. Caring for the Community – Elem
Debbie Lerner teaches grades 1–3 at Red Bridge Elementary School in Kansas City , Missouri . Red Bridge incorporates a personalized learning curriculum in which students stay in the same classroom for all three grade levels. Ms. Lerner’s lesson focuses on the concept of community and explores how her students can help make a difference in each other’s lives. Students review the concept of resources and interview their superintendent to understand how decisions are made that affect the school budget. Students then work in groups to brainstorm and create flyers to help prepare for their school’s upcoming remodeling. http://www.learner.org/resources/series166.html
8. Celebrations of Light - Elem
Eileen Mesmer teaches a combined kindergarten and first–grade class in Salem , Massachusetts , a diverse community outside Boston . Ms. Mesmer asks her students to explore the many ways the holidays are celebrated and to find commonalities among the various celebrations. Ms. Mesmer reads to the students from "The Winter Solstice," using it to help students understand the greater theme of community. Through math, writing, and drawing stations located throughout the classroom, students interact with the content in a variety of ways and through diverse learning styles.
http://www.learner.org/resources/series166.html
19. Population and Resource Distribution
Becky Forristal teaches seventh–grade economics at Rockwood Valley Middle School , 20 miles outside St. Louis , Missouri . Her lesson focuses on a population simulation that explores world economics, demonstrating the inequalities in land, food, energy, and wealth distribution in the world today. Using a global map on the classroom floor, students are able to visualize how resources are distributed in both wealthy and under–developed nations of the world. http://www.learner.org/resources/series166.html
Controversial Public Policy Issues - HS
In this 12th-grade law class at Champlin Park High School in Minnesota, JoEllen Ambrose engages students in a structured discussion of a highly controversial issue — racial profiling — and connects student learning both to their study of due process in constitutional law and police procedure in criminal law. Students begin by completing an opinion poll, which they discuss as a group. Students are then put into pairs in which they conduct research on the topic. Next, students participate in a debate in which each partnership argues both sides of the issue. A debriefing discussion completes the lesson. The methodologies highlighted in this lesson include role playing and structured academic controversy.
http://www.learner.org/resources/series177.html#
WRITING
Teacher as Writer (Grades 3-5 Writing)
This program shows third-grade teacher Latosha Rowley sharing her writing with her students and reflecting on the experience as a writer and as a teacher. It also includes several vignettes featuring other teachers who build community in their classrooms through modeling and sharing their own writing. http://www.learner.org/resources/series205.html
Creating a Community of Writers (Middle School Writing)
In this session, participants explore practical strategies—from desk arrangements to classroom organization to writing routines—that allow young adolescents to share their writing in an atmosphere of tr us t and safety and to recognize their identities as lifelong writers and readers. http://www.learner.org/resources/series192.html
Workshop 2: Making Writing Meaningful (Middle School Writing)
When teachers introduce subjects that matter to middle school students or allow them more freedom to choose and develop topics, the task of writing gains new meaning and purpose. In this session, participants examine how five middle-level teachers help their students connect to writing and understand its capacity to transform their own lives and the world around them.
http://www.learner.org/resources/series192.html
Workshop 2. A Shared Path (High School Writing)
What kind of atmosphere do students need to grow as writers? This session concentrates on the “hows” and “whys” that answer that question. The featured teachers talk about the physical set-up of a writing community, the importance of reading in a writing classroom, and their own roles as co-writers in the community, showing how these practicalities and philosophies actually work in setting up communities where trust and mutual respect are the hallmarks. In a writer’s workshop, the teachers react in writing to Judith Ortiz Cofer’s assignment: hiding and revealing through language http://www.learner.org/resources/series194.html
Workshop 3. Different Audiences (High School Writing)This session begins by examining the “self” most writers address, showing how the concept of writing for an audience is threaded throughout the dynamic and nonlinear processes of writing. From there, the session looks to a wider range of audiences, examining the demands the student writer encounters in addressing audiences in language arts and other disciplines, and audiences on other levels, such as those encountered in college and the job world. Classroom experiences show how writing community members think about, plan around, and address audience expectations. The teachers tackle the same theme for different audiences in a writer’s workshop led by Judith Ortiz Cofer. http://www.learner.org/resources/series194.html
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