Black students added to discrimination probe at L.A. Unified

Black students added to discrimination probe at L.A. Unified

Simple Urine Test May Diagnose Children With Autism - AOL Health

Simple Urine Test May Diagnose Children With Autism - AOL Health

Arizona boycott to be debated by L.A. Board of Supervisors, L.A. Unified School District

Arizona boycott to be debated by L.A. Board of Supervisors, L.A. Unified School District

Flaws in California's English-language programs place students in jeopardy, threatens state's economic future, study finds

Flaws in California's English-language programs place students in jeopardy, threatens state's economic future, study finds

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Classroom Community

I started reading a book by Rafe Esquith called Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire. It focuses on his particular strategies toward creating a classroom community built upon mutual trust and respect. I personally love his philosophies and plan to implement them in the future but I have yet to see this type of practice used in an actual classroom first hand. Most of the teachers that I have observed continue to believe that they are dictators and a quiet classroom filled with obedient children is an accurate measure of teaching success. I disagree completely. Children should be given an opportunity to interact with each other at every available opportunity as this interaction is the basis for forming bonds built upon trust and respect. When I begin student teaching in the fall, I really, really hope that I am assigned to a teacher that values this type of practice so I may see how to implement it for my own class.

Marilyn Burns

I was introduced to Marilyn Burns through my Math methods professor. Burns is an author who pairs a literature base with mathematical concepts in a way that's engaging and really highlights conceptual understanding over procedure and rote memorization. I used her book Spaghetti and Meatballs for All! for a math lesson involving area and I felt the book was really effective as an introduction to this concept. Here is a link to a few articles that Burns has written:

http://www.mathsolutions.com/index.cfm?page=wp10&crid=37

20 Questions

So, as I was playing 20 questions with my fiance (it was really 10 questions because I get impatient) I realized that this type of game would be fantastic to use as a partnered vocabulary building activity. Students could use the vocabulary of the week from the basal reading system or it could even work with ELD vocabulary. The kids could have a few, set questions that they ask, like instead of "Animal, vegetable, or mineral" they could say "Noun, adjective, or verb" and then they just use their own imaginations to try to figure out the word.