Activity 1- Current Issues

Cafeteria Food/ Nutrition is the topic for this week's current issue. Numerous scientific studies have suggested a strong link between child nutrition and learning in school. But is the cafeteria food nutritious? If so, are the children eating it?

Just recently this article "Parents count kids' calories online" appeared in eSchool News online.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=5765

"As Garin Hughes picks through his school-lunch burrito and unidentifiable apple-pear dessert, he has a secret. Hidden underneath the eighth-grader's right leg is a chocolate cookie in shrink-wrapped plastic. In the past, his parents had no clue when he bought a treat at school. Now, thanks to a new school-lunch monitoring system, they can check over the internet and learn about that secret cookie."

Should educational institutions be modeling good nutrition? Or in difficult times, is it OK to make money on soda machines in schools to put towards other better education in the schools? See

Lines Are Drawn for big Suit over Sodas

What is school lunch like at the schools where you are volunteering?

Remember to use the Current Issue Discussion Format. Post your responses in Week 7: HOT TOPICS.

Activity 2 - How to Talk so Kids Can Learn

It's hard to believe that praise can actually be demeaning to children, but under some conditions praise can indeed be harmful. This chapter will help us to understand how to encourage children to become their own evaluators rather than always relying on adults and peers as their sources of affirmation.

The second part of this chapter deals with criticism. We've all probably found ourselves criticizing something a child says or does. This part of the chapter shows us how to let a child know that something is wrong without resorting to criticism.

This week try these new approaches to praise and criticism at least once (I like the little summary on page 179 as a reminder) , and share your example with the class in the Week 7: HTTSKCL-Praise and Criticism conference.

Remember to respond to 2 other people for full credit.

Activity 3- Teaching as a Profession

This week I want to give you an option ;-) for this part of the seminar. Please select Part A OR Part B, whichever seems most applicable to you.

Part A is for those of you who plan to become licensed teachers. This week you will be exploring the ups and downs of the first year of teaching. Although you will each have at least two years of college before you are in the teaching job market, we have found that students are not always fully prepared for the expectations placed on a first year teacher. The following sites describe the ups and downs of the first year of teaching and have multiple resources and tips for you to browse through.

http://www.ed.gov/pubs/FirstYear/index.html

http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr152.shtml

http://www.newteachercenter.org/article3.html

After reading the information share what you feel will be your greatest challenge(s) the first year of teaching. Post your answer in the Week 7: First Year Teaching conference. (Note: I still remember my first day!)

Part B is for those of you who are not currently seeking a teaching license. We will use this as an opportunity to explore the wide variety of teaching resources on the Internet. If you are working in special ed you may want to search out some special education sites geared towards the handicapping condition you most often work with. For those of you in bilingual education, find out what the Internet has to offer you in the way of specific teaching strategies. There may even be sites designed especially for bilingual educators.

Your task is to search at least 3 different sites and report back to us what you have found. If you have a hard time getting started, search for "Teaching Resources" using Google search engine. Otherwise type in your area of teaching specialty and see what comes up. Post what you learn in Week 7: Teaching Resources.

Respond to 2 other students in either conference.

Activity 4 - Journal

For the journals this week focus on student-to-student interactions in your classroom.

• To what extent do you see students working together?
• Would you characterize your class as more cooperative or more competetive?
• More friendly or somewhat hostile?
• Engaged or apathetic?
• Have you seen any evidence that interpersonal skills are formally taught or practiced?
• And what about students using conflict resolution and problem-solving skills to take care of issues on their own?

Share with us what you see -or don't see- in your observation classroom by posting to Week 7: Student Interactions.

Thanks to all of you for your thought-provoking ideas and postings. You have been keen observers and I have enjoyed reading everyone's journal. Please have a great week!

Week 6

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