El Boletín
Volume 6
- The EHS Bulldog Bulletin
November 13, 2009
Issue 11
Bulldog Birthdays:
Chuck Kirtland
November 13th
Elida Events This Week:
American Education Week
Math Dept Meeting (7:15)
FCCLA Students in Findlay
Federal Math and Science Study (periods 1-4)
November 15th-21st
November 17th
November 17th
November 19th/20th
Coming Attractions:
National Honor Society Induction
Thanksgiving Break
Science Department Meeting (3:00)
Social Studies Department Meeting (7:15)
Parent-Teacher Conferences (4-7:30)
Choir Concert (7:30)
Band Concert (3:00)
Math Department Meeting (7:15)
Board of Education Meeting (7:00 p.m.)
English Department Meeting (7:15)
Two Hour Early Release
Winter Break
School Resumes
November 23rd
November 25/26/27th
December 1st
December 2nd
December 2nd
December 7th
December 13th
December 15th
December 15th
December 17th
December 18th
December 21st-January 4th
January 4th
Thought of the Week:
“A teacher who is attempting to teach, without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn,
is hammering on a cold iron." - Horace Mann (1796-1859)
Elida Student News:
Next Thursday and Friday, thirty randomly chosen Freshmen will be taking a federal
math and science test. This test is part of a study being conducted by the United States
Department of Education to determine how well students are doing in math and science
throughout the United States. During their Junior year, the same students will be tested
again to measure the students’ growth. A list of students will be sent out this week.
From Superintendent Debra Delisle’s weekly newsletter…
Shine the spotlight on: Elida Local School District and Fairborn City Schools
Elida High School in Allen County hosted a tribute to local veterans last Thursday and
honored them during a breakfast and panel discussions in social studies classes. See this
website for more! www.learnandserveohio.org
Elida Teacher News
Congratulations to Denny Schwinnen for being selected for induction into the Ohio
Tennis Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Mr. Schwinnen will be inducted at a banquet
on Sunday, February 28 in Columbus.
From Amy Amspoker – Check this out!
www.Flashcardmachine.com Once you create an account (FREE) you can make sets of
flashcards for vocabulary or other items in your class. You also have access to flashcards
that others have made. (It is up to you if you would like others to be able to view your
flashcards). After you have created the set you can add pictures, sounds, etc. depending
on your content areas (music, art, etc.). I have used the cards in class as a quick review
using the projector. Also, when you create your card set it gives you a website to give the
kids that will allow them to use the flashcards at home or during a study hall without
creating an account. It is also nice review for exams because it gives you the opportunity
to combine different card sets to review. So, if you made a card set for each chapter that
you have covered up until semester exams, you can review all of those vocabulary words.
Along with this, students are able to upload the flashcard sets to their ipod so that way
they can review them at any time. This requires the use of the iStudyToGo program and
does cost $19.99. It does not work on every type of ipod so this is something that I would
read through carefully before telling kids to go buy it! :) I thought it was a neat idea
though...
Teenage Tidbit
The risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among 16- to 19-year-olds than among any
other age group. In fact, per mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are four times more
likely than older drivers to crash.
Famous Educator Bio – Marva Collins
Marva Collins, born August 31, 1936, to Henry and Bessie Knight, Jr. in Atmore, Alabama, is an educator
who in 1975 started Westside Preparatory School in Garfield Park, an impoverished neighborhood of
Chicago, Illinois. She ran the school for more than 30 years until it closed in 2008, due to lack of sufficient
enrollment and funding. She is famous for applying classical education successfully with impoverished
students, many of whom had been wrongly labelled as 'learning-disabled' by public schools. She once
wrote, "I have discovered few learning disabled students in my three decades of teaching. I have, however,
discovered many, many victims of teaching inabilities." She has written a number of manuals, books and
motivational tracts describing her history and methods, and currently (2006) has a web site and public
speaking service. She was most widely publicized in the 1981 biographical TV movie The Marva Collins
Story starring Cicely Tyson and Morgan Freeman.
She graduated from Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia known today as Clark Atlanta University, and then
taught school for two years in Alabama, then moved to Chicago, where she taught in public schools for
fourteen years. In 1975 she started Westside Preparatory, which became an educational and commercial
success. In 1996 she began supervising three Chicago public schools that had been placed on probation. In
2004 she received a National Humanities Medal, among many awards for her teaching and efforts at school
reform.
Marva Collins uses the Socratic method, modified for use in primary school. The first step is to select
material with abstract content to challenge students' logic, and that will therefore have different meaning to
different students, in order to aid discussion. This is done specifically to teach children to reason.Next, the
teacher should read the material, because unknown material cannot be taught. New words, the words to
watch, should be listed, and taught, for pronunciation, use and spelling before the material is read. Without
this step, the reading is meaningless. Next, one begins a series of pertinent questions as the reading
progresses, starting with a reference to the title, and a question about what the material is about. Predictions
should use logic, reasoning and evidence without fallacy. The reading must be out loud, so the teacher can
ask questions at pertinent points. Students are taught to test their reasoning. Afterward, they write daily
letters to the author or characters, and write a critical review. Why is the work important to them? The child
must be taught to refer to what was previously learned to support their opinions.
In the Socratic method, the rate of information is controlled by the teacher. Properly paced, this encourages
participation, reducing discipline issues and encouraging self-discipline. The program specifically avoids
work-sheets and inane busy work. It establishes an intellectual atmosphere, a general attitude suspending
judgement, and examining reasoning.
Classroom Blogs Help Develop Learning Skills
Using classroom blogs can be a great way for teachers to promote student learning. Here
are four different kinds of classroom blogs:
Class News Blog. What went on in sixth period today? When is the next group
project due? Questions like that can be easily answered by a classroom blog. Students
can write up the news reports and see their writing in “print.” A daily blog can also be a
great way to post homework assignments useful for parents as well as absent students.
Mirror Blog. Blogs allow students to reflect their thinking. While reading a
chapter from a history textbook, a student could highlight two or three key ideas.
Another student could link a current news story with a historical event. Teachers can also
use this kind of blog to post their own thoughts and reflections.
Showcase Blog. Students do great work in your class, but they don’t have many
opportunities to show off. Technology allows teachers to now post everything from
photographs of student art projects to videos of class discussions. (Be sure to have
parents sign photo-release forms.) And also, protect students’ privacy by using first
names only.
Literature Response Blog. Just as students are invited to write responses to a
piece of fiction in a journal, they can also use an electronic format. They can share
thoughts on reading done outside the classroom. Or students can collaborate on an entry
describing their reactions to a novel, poem or short story.
“HOT Blogging: A Framework for Blogging to Promote Higher Order thinking” Lisa
Zawilinski
Want to know what’s on the front page of today’s newspaper? In Istanbul? Next day, the
Newseum’s website www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/default.asp?page=1 displays
hundreds of front pages from newspapers around the world. Not all articles may be
suitable for students, but for a quick way to see what leads the news around the world,
this is an invaluable resource.
Today’s students have become a generation of aliterates – people who can read but chose
not to read. That’s the term author Kelly Gallagher uses to describe” the systematic
killing of the love of reading.” As a high school teacher, Gallagher understands the
pressures faced by classroom teachers every day. In Readicide: How Schools Are Killing
Reading and What You Can Do About It, he offers sensible suggestions that can help turn
today’s aliterates into tomorrow’s readers.
Compared with high school graduates, students who drop out of school are four times
more likely to be unemployed. They are more likely to be on public assistance and more
likely to be in prison. An effective dropout program can make the difference in bringing
down the number of dropouts. For information on successful dropout prevention
programs, tips for parents and students, and links to funding sources, go to the National
Dropout Prevention Center/Network site at www.dropoutprevention.org