How to Use Glogster in the Classroom

One of the first sites I nosed out on Twitter was glogster.com/edu from @pamillamc and @rcurrin. According to the site, Glogster is: A web 2.0 platform that easily allows users to upload photos, videos, text, audio and more to create a unique online, interactive poster. To see its true potential, I decided to give it a go with my group of about 80 7th grade students.

Here's the how-to I used with my kids. The project concludes tomorrow - I'll post some student samples as well as a full review.

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Essays & Theses School Work project worksheet

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Why it is Important to Fail Students

This post is in response to the FOXNews.com article, Are 'No-fail' grading systems helping or hurting students?

When I was about 4 years old, I was babysat by a family friend who lived in an area that would fittingly be described as the boonies. They owned animals - not for the companionship but for consumption, and they were too far from civilization for garbage trucks to trek, so they burned their trash in a barrel behind the house. No heating or cooling systems either – in the summer, the windows were opened, and in the winter, warmth blasted from the colossus cast iron stove that filled much of the living room.

That stove intrigued me. And despite the constant warning, I had to learn for myself that it was not to be touched by little hands. I wasn't burned badly enough to require grafting, or even more than a wet washcloth, but you better believe that I learned my lesson and never touched that stove again.

Why did I touch the stove despite repeated warnings not to? Because you don't learn what hot is without experiencing it. It's an idea too abstract for a young mind to grasp without direct experience.

The same can be said about the ideas of success and failure. As teachers, how are we to convey financial security, homeownership, and all the other attributes of success to students whose only priority is getting home to play Call of Duty? To keep with the hot stove analogy – Students need to feel the heat now, so they don't get burned later in life.

This is why it scares me that schools are doing away with failure policies. Who cares if it hurts the kids' self esteem. So will foreclosure, and unemployment, and poverty, and welfare, and... well, you get the idea. By doing away with the dreaded 'F' we are not allowing our kids to be successful. We are simply making the searing pain of failure much worse later in life.

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Bill Nye the Science Analogy Guy

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a speaking presentation by Bill Nye at the University at Buffalo's Alumni Arena. Although I was mildly disappointed at the absence of baking soda volcanoes and cool tricks with dry ice, Nye was still engaging, witty, and obviously incredibly intelligent.

His mantra for the evening was You can change the world – an ideal he applied to everything from global warming, to the automotive industry, and even the amount of energy consumed by idle ipod chargers. However, the part that I found most intriguing was the question and answer segment that followed his formal presentation.

I was impressed to see that Bill Nye was just as quick on his feet with the sometimes random, and sometimes controversial topics that audience members threw at him as he was during his presentation. In that last 30 minutes he spoke articulately on topics like stem cell research, space exploration, and conservation. But my ears perked when someone asked Nye about his opinions regarding how science is taught in schools.

Without hesitation, Nye immediately stated that science needed to be taught more at the elementary level. He pointed out that in part of the No Child Left Behind Act, science standards don't kick in until students reach the 7th grade. Nye unapologetically called NCLB a “recipe for disaster” (which evoked a round of applause from the audience).

I write all of this only so I can share Bill Nye's analogy with you. He said it would be like waiting until 7th grade to teach kids the alphabet. That's saying that science is as fundamental in today's society as literacy. Although I am an English Language Arts teacher, I wholeheartedly agree. Shouldn't innovation be a fundamental part of how we live life?

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5 Ways Teaching is Like the Game of Risk

Last weekend I convinced my wife, her sisters, and her sister's fiance to gather around the kitchen table for a light-hearted game of Risk. After several hours of intense battling (with no end in sight), we called it a night. The slow victories, the back and forth attacks, the constantly elevating emotions – they all reminded me of one thing. Teaching.

1. It is nearly impossible to plan more than one turn ahead since you never know what your opponent is going to do.

Since I was playing with five other people, I had to wait at least 20 minutes between turns. In that time, the game board – and my plan of attack – changed constantly. Not only did I need to keep in mind where I wanted to go, but also where I was at any given moment. As for teaching, I wrote this blog post that echoed those same principles in education.

2. Once an army builds momentum, it is nearly impossible to stop them. Great if you are attacking, not so great if you are defending.

Every teacher has experienced a class that turns into a mock representation of Golding's classic novel Lord of the Flies. No one intends for this to happen, but the change is so gradual that by the time the teacher realizes it, it's too late. The same thing happened to me during Risk. All seemed fine, until I noticed that I had lost Europe (and the 5 extra troops it awards each turn) to the green invading army.

3. Some people simply don't see why Risk is such an exciting and challenging game.

The only reason why I convinced the girls to play Risk in the first place was because we set up the board when they ran out to pick up snacks. By the time they realized what we had planned, it was too late. They simply didn't get the same pleasure out of Risk as the guys did. As teachers, we see this during many parent meetings. For some families, school simply isn't a priority – and that's usually the root of the problem.

4. The end goal nearly always seems unobtainable until it somehow miraculously happens.

Progress is slow and sometimes difficult to measure. In Risk, a victory comes not when a country is won, but when it can be held longterm. The same can be said about learning.

5. Even during the fiercest of games, truces must be made. At least for a little while.

Working with students is a constant game of give and take. Good teachers are the ones who know how to take more than give (without students ever noticing).

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Student Example of Persuasive Writing

I have to give my kids credit. For seventh grade, this is focused and articulate writing. Here is the girls' letter to me, and my response.

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