Crystal in the Classroom

California-born. East coast college. Hawai`i for adventures in the world of education and beyond. || Unassociated thoughts, my own.

[thecalminside]

Let what comes come. Let what goes go. Find out what remains.

Ramana Maharshi (via thecalminside)

[coolcatteacher]

Growth mindset thoughts from Andrea Stephen. A great chart to share in your classroom!

[huffpost]

Male Engineering Student Perfectly Explains Why Female Classmates Aren’t His Equals

Ability? Absolutely. Opportunity? Nope.

[infoneer-pulse]

Across the board, data show that women are better students than men. From test scores to college graduation rates, females outperform males in almost every metric of educational achievement. Now, two economists from Texas A&M University report that schoolgirls do even better than their male counterparts when they are taught by female teachers. Specifically, the authors found a significant change in female test scores in math—long considered the last bastion of male educational dominance—when taught by a woman instead of a man.

Study: Girls do better in school when taught by women - Quartz (via infoneer-pulse)

[remainblessed]

[remainblessed]

Lets create a different world for others

Get your daily dose of encouragement!!!!!

[quotemadness]

I crave space. It charges my batteries. It helps me breathe. Being around people can be so exhausting, because most of them love to take and barely know how to give. Except for a rare few.

(via devils-anddust)

[theinsidelane-deactivated202602]

Infographic: Informal Learning

Find more education infographics on e-Learning Infographics

[crystalintheclassroom]

Life of the poor and the rich...

Do I smell a lesson plan?  A beautiful one on compare and contrast... a discussion on hunger, water, access to resources... some commentary on how the director and videographer presents the message and how do we know it without words?  

SO much can be done with this little piece...  And of course... what are students grateful for that perhaps they take for granted? 

This once's a good resource and a great way to incorporate different styles of learning by incorporating a mixed medium into the presentation. PLUS students love discussing videos, and once they acquire those critical thinking skills to dissect... it's transferable to poetry, fiction, articles, etc.  A video clip just makes critical thinking appear less scary. 

[crystalintheclassroom]

I like this piece done by the NYTimes, a lot.  

An assignment I did with students this past summer was have them analyze any story from the article (text), radio (sound), and tv (visual) medium and argue which one was the best mode of transmitting news.

What did they discover from each medium that isn't perfectly portrayed in another? What information is new in each type? What are the pros and cons? What's the best way of story telling?

It seems that my own students were torn between written and visual, with radio receiving the least amount of interest. But high school students are also a part of a different time.

Anyways, THIS STORY from the NY Times works well with the project, and it's intriguing to me having lived on the Big Island and walked the streets of Honokaa. 

[boldtalkzenbehavior]

[crystalintheclassroom]

I don’t like all the suggestions, however this would be a fun closing or opening exercise to split classrooms into groups and see what alternatives they can use for classroom banned words like, “a lot.” Encourage them to use the dictionary — this is a great mini lesson on thesaurus and dictionary reference guide use. Finally, eliminate “many” and “much” as well. Have groups reveal words and later print out a good of best-rated words to pass to students for safekeeping. This will work well fit other overly used words too, like “said."

Have suggestions on other words to ban?

[allheartcare-deactivated2016010]

[conflictingheart]

A literary thumbprint is made of the books that have defined your life. What would be in your literary thumbprint?

[crystalintheclassroom]

GREAT visual project for the classroom.  This one feels like an end of the year summary.. maybe students could incorporate mixed media -- songs, poems, movies, articles, etc. 

[crystalintheclassroom]

This is a great way to show students an intriguing author interview to get them more interested in reading the books!  LOVE Toni Morrison. 

[crystalintheclassroom]

ReadWorks.org | Thanksgiving 2014 Reading Passages

You’ll love this research-based reading comprehension curriculum. Check out ReadWorks.org!

Always a good resource for reading passages.  Although, personally, I enjoy using Thanksgiving editors in newspapers... especially by Jon Carroll of the San Francisco Chronicle.. 

[crystalintheclassroom]

One of my favorite places for lesson plan ideas.  

The NYTimes is great, especially since working in relevant current events and non-fiction is completely Common Core Curriculum aligned.  Not to mention, my middle school students regularly LOVED the feel of having newspapers in their hands. I regularly started out each classroom with 10 minutes of silent ready for students to sift through newspapers (gives me time to check their homework as they quietly settle in) and easy to practice a skill following the reading -- like summarizing articles, verbal or written, or working on countering articles with opinions and presenting to class, etc.  

It helps to set students up to look forward to today's news that I think it gives them good habits to become active citizens discussing local and national events.

West Hawaii Today had an AMAZING classroom newspaper donation program.  It's called "Newspapers in Education," and you can check out the link HERE.  I suggest calling the marketing departments of your local newspapers to see if they'll donate weekly sets to your classroom. It encourages students to be reads.

Enjoy the writing prompts!

[friscolibrary-deactivated202001]

[crystalintheclassroom]

Wise words

[bernadettelogue]

What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

TheDailyPositive.com (via thedailypozitive)

Children are the best imitators. So make sure your actions set good examples in the classroom -- adhere to rules for students to follow.

[gjmueller-deactivated20181226]

In honor of National News Engagement Day, here are 50 ideas to help teachers bring current events into the classroom, grouped below by category:

Reading and Writing

Speaking and Listening

Games and Quizzes

Photographs, Illustrations, Videos and Infographics

Design and Creativity

Making Connections

Building Skills