Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Mindmaps for learning

If you don't already use mind maps regularly, you should probably start. And if you are using mind maps as part of your daily productivity routine, chances are you've come to recognize that they're good for a whole lot more than just raw brainstorming. Here are five great uses for mind maps that go well beyond simple idea generation. ( Robert Strohmeyer at PC Business Center)

What's a mindmap?


A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classifystudying and organizing information, solving problems ideas, and as an aid to , making decisions, and writing. (from Wikipedia)

To read the rest of the Wikipedia entry on mindmaps, click here

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Marathon man

At yesterday's session of Literacy Lunches, Grand Forks Central math teacher Steve Paintner read about the origins of marathon. Why? For one, yesterday was the annual running of the Boston Marathon.

The first Marathon occurred in 490 BC when Pheidppides ran from the battled near Marathon to Athens (25 miles) to deliver the news that the Greeks had defeated the Persians in war. After doing so, he collapsed and died on the spot. In 1896 Olympics the Marathon was resurrected in Athens; runners went from the Marathon Bridge to Athens.

The Boston Marathon, held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday in April, is the world's oldest annual marathon and is one of the world's major marathons.

But there's more to Paintner's choice of reading about marathons. Paintner himself is a marathon runner, something he became some seven years ago when he and fellow GFC science teacher Eric Polries ran in a marathon to raise money to honor the late Markus Bryant, for whom the Markus Bryant Spirit Award is named. Bryant was a student at GFC who, despite being ill with cancer, worked hard and persevered, exemplifying courage to all who were around him.  Bryant died in 2002..

Paintner's now in training to run the half marathon, one of the events in the annual Fargo Marathon, an event he's never missed. He's also twice run in the Minneapolis Marathon.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Teaching reading and IRA

It is eye-opening for teachers to realize how reading differs in other content area classrooms. For example, analyzing the causes and effects of historical processes differs from visualizing physical and chemical processes in science, which differs from interpreting character motives and figurative language in literature.
Think about the analogy of mental workouts: Many students have not given their brains the types of vigorous thinking workouts—cross training, if you will—that teachers want them to have in different types of reading and learning. Once teachers see how different the comprehension process is in different subjects, then they can also recognize the comprehension similarities from subject to subject. (Jeff Zwiers at the International Reading Association Website)

To read more, click here.

The IRA website includes some full text articles from its journals The Reading Teacher. Above is an excerpt from one of those full text articles.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Rigorous classes lead to achievement

"Students who take more rigorous courses in high school are more likely to perform well on achievement tests, according to a study released today that shows more students are doing just that.
The 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress High School Transcript Study reveals that the percentage of high school graduates completing a “rigorous” curriculum, with higher-level mathematics and science curricula, jumped from 5 percent in 1990 to 13 percent in 2009. Those who took a “midlevel” curriculum increased from 26 percent to 46 percent in the same period." (Caralee J. Adams at Education Week)

To read more, click here.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

National Library Week April 10-16, 2011

Share your love of libraries with the world by composing a library themed twaiku for National Library Week! You might win a $50 gift certificate to Amazon.
What’s a twaiku, you ask? Simply put, a twaiku is haiku sent via Twitter. Twaiku use the same basic structure of 3 lines with 5-7-5 syllables respectively. Unlike a true haiku, a twaiku can only be 140 characters, or 130 with our #nlwtwaiku tag.
The National Library Week twaiku contest kicks off at the beginning of School Library Month (April), and continues through Wednesday of National Library Week (April 13). All submissions must be tagged #nlwtwaiku.
The staff of atyourlibrary.org will post a selection of the best twaiku here on atyourlibrary.org, where everyone will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite through the end of National Library Week (Saturday, April 16).
The most highly rated twaiku will receive an Amazon gift certificate! (directly from The Campaign for America's Libraries)

To learn more, click here.