Heelys: Stylish, Comfy & Fun at Work or Home!

I love wearing my new Heelys to work.  I picked this cute pair because I love the "old school" look and they look great with my stylish school spirit wear.  I will admit that I like them much better without the wheels, but with the wheels in they are a lot of fun around the house and at the grocery store (while holding on to the cart).

My students gave me some great advice on using Heelys:

1) Start out by holding on to someone or something 

2) If you want to stop, just push your toes down

3) Don't bring the wheels to school because it's against the rules

4) If you wear them to the mall you can get your shopping done faster

www.heelys.com is the place to go to get your Heelys.  

Wear them to work or school, but when you get home pop in the wheels and let the fun begin!

Log on to http://www.Heelys.com for products, videos and how-to guides. Follow Heelys on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/Heelys, Twitter - http://twitter.com/Heelysworldwide and YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/Heelysworldwide.


Heelys, Inc. is a company founded on innovation. It designs, markets and distributes its action sports-oriented products to the youth market under the Heelys® brand. The company's primary product, Heelys wheeled footwear, is a patented dual-purpose skate shoe that incorporates a stealth removable wheel in the heel. Its new product, Heelys Hx2, uses two wheels for better balance and control, making it ideal for younger users. Heelys' third offering, Nano, ramps up the Heelys experience by giving skaters a board that links into the patented Heelys shoe bracket. This allows them to skate farther, faster and longer than ever before. Instructional videos on how to get started can be found at http://www.Heelys.com/.

*All opinions are my own. Received 1 free pair of Heelys in return for blog post/video.

Can Homework Encourage Creativity?

I recently participated in an #elemchat Twitter Chat about homework (here is the transcript). Many teachers give meaningless homework which is nothing more than busy work. My children attend a Fine Arts Academy (charter school) where the approach to learning is a little different. Although they have the usual math problems and book reports, they also have the opportunity to get creative with their homework assignments. The teachers are aware that all students learn differently and so they give options for homework and projects.  For instance, instead of just doing a report, students are given the option to make posters/books/artwork, create songs, cook, use technology, choreograph a dance, or dramatize it with live action, photography, or video. I love that the students are given choices. My son enjoys using technology and makes really good Prezis.

Click on the > to progess through the Prezi

My youngest daughter is very "hands-on" and recently worked with a group to create this magnificent crispy rice relief map of Texas. What I like about these kinds of assignments is the time and effort my kids put in to them. My son is very "techie" but my daughter is more "artsy" so they can choose assignments that work well with their learning style.

  

As a teacher, I want to offer my students options as well. Instead of the usual "write your spelling words 2 times" and "do 50 math problems", I want the students to be able to use Spelling City, make rainbow words by using 2 or 3 crayons to write the words, or create "pyramids" with the words:

P

Py

Pyr

Pyra

Pyram

Pyrami

Pyramid

Pyramids

In math they can use sites like Cool Math, take pictures of patterns in our world, or make cootie catchers to learn math facts:

The possibilities are limitless.SO! As teachers...no matter where we teach...it is our job to tune in to our students and pull the very best out of them! It's easy to get in to a rut and use the same assignments from year to year, but that's not the kind of teacher I want to be. How about you?

Self Esteem = Poker Chips?

My husband, Preston, is a behavior intervention teacher at a Title 1 high school and he deals with a lot of really hard issues with his students.  I recently shared with him my plan to Raise the Responsibility in my 2nd grade classroom. He was very impressed with Marvin Marshall's Discipline for Promoting Responsibility and Learning and is also planning on implementing this system with his students. The beauty of this system is that it can be modified to work with any age student, but in order for this system to be successful, the teacher must provide positive feedback. Sometimes we may find it hard to be positive when dealing with difficult or impulsive students.

At the same time I was researching the Raise the Responsibility system, a social worker in Preston's PLN shared this compelling video on Twitter. After watching it I understood why positive feedback is so important not only for learning disabled students, but ALL students.



           

  When the chips are down
- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Today at school, as I spoke to my students as a whole group or individually, I tried to imagine that my words were the poker chips described in this video.  It really helped raised my awareness of what I was saying to the students and how I was saying it.

Raise the Responsibility - Discipline for Promoting Responsibility and Learning

I was so inspired after reading "Using A Discipline System to Promote Learning", by Marvin Marshall and Kerry Weisner, that I decided to implement the system in my classroom immediately. The idea of the Raise the Responsibility system is to promote internal motivation in both academics and behavior. Rewards and consequences provide external motivation which might modify behavior, but they will not permanently motivate the student to change his/her behavior. Students who continually try to push the limits of their behavior can now assess their own level of responsibility for an action and then reflect on how they can correct it or not repeat it.

This morning I introduced my interpretation of the levels of responsibility to my 2nd graders using a wadded up piece of paper (as suggested in the article):

This is my 2nd-grade-friendly modified version of the Levels of Responsibility.  

• First I took the paper and threw it up in the air while making a lot of noise and then threw it at a student. They were shocked! This behavior, I explained, was Level 1 behavior - inappropriate, out of control behavior that would lead to negative consequences.  
• Next, I put the paper on the floor and kicked it around for a while. Then I told someone in a bossy tone to pick it up and throw it away. The students easily recognized  that this Level 2 behavior involving bossing, bullying, and breaking rules was also not appropriate.
• For the the next demonstration, I put the paper back on the floor and politely asked a student to pick up the paper and throw it away. The student quickly complied and was pleased when I thanked her. 
• Finally, I put the paper on the floor and while I was going in to more detail about Level 3, a student picked up the paper, without being asked, and handed it to me. This was the perfect segue into Level 4: Appropriate/responsible behavior and doing something just because it's the right thing to do.  

Throughout the day, I used the chart 3 times with students who were making poor behavior choices.  Each time they we able to accurately identify the level of their behavior and I could see that they felt a strong sense of responsibility for either correcting it or not repeating it.

During our Daily 5 Read to Self reflection time, we were also able to make a connection. The students demonstrated what a person would look and act like during Read to Self on each level. A student choosing Level 1 or 2 behavior would be talking, getting up and walking around, disturbing other students, or pretending to read.  A student choosing Level 3 would be following the rules, but watching to make sure the teacher saw that they were doing a good job. A student choosing to behave at Level 4 would be in "The Zone" and not aware of what was going on around them.

Choice:
Most students choose to act a certain way, but there are some who know not what they do at times. These are the students who offer the biggest challenge. Impulsive behavior can be very hard for the student to control and, as the teacher, I must learn how to help the student get these impulses under control. Asking the right questions, being positive, offering choices, and encouraging reflection are strategies that will help deal with difficult students.


Obviously after just one day I am not an authority on this system, but I was amazed at how quickly and positively the students responded to it.  According to Marshall and Weisner, as a teacher I must keep the following things in mind:

1. I must be positive in everything I say. Students do better when they feel good about themselves.
2. Students must know that they always have the freedom to choose their responses - regardless of the situation. Realizing that they have choice, the students will become more self-controlled and responsible. They will feel empowered.
3. I must learn to ask questions that will effectively guide students to reflect and self-evaluate.

My goal is to use this system and move away from color change charts, treasure boxes, tickets, points, and all of the other rewards systems I have tried in the past. I will keep you posted on how this system is working out.

Marvin Marshall and Kerry Weisner, "Using a Discipline System to

Promote Learning," Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 85, No. 6, March 2004, pp.
498-503


http://www.marvinmarshall.com/

*All opinions are my own. No compensation was received for this post.

Simple song for learning continents and oceans

In 2nd grade students have a hard time understanding the difference between continents, countries, and states. This is a simple video that introduces the continents and oceans. Once we learn this, we will move on to countries and states.

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