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Would you be interested in
becoming a Featured Writer for the StarTeaching website?
Our Newsletter
is now posting a opening for a creative educator interested in
designing a set of weekly problem solving activities for
students and teachers to use.
Email your resume and letter of
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Designing
and Running a Medieval Fair
(part 1)
By
Frank
Holes, Jr.
Middle School Teacher
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Running
large events, such as a medieval fair, at school is often too much
for most teachers to attempt. However, with careful planning, and
some well directed help, you can orchestrate a successful,
educational, and memorable experience for your students.
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The key to any event is your
personnel. As a leader, choosing your team is the single most important
piece of the puzzle. If you are already working on a teaching team, you
have a great start. But you will undoubtedly need to enlist the help of
others to pull off the event.
The medieval fair concept (at
our seventh grade level) was born several years ago. In an effort to
make better connections between our classes, we as a teaching team
decided we should have projects involving two (or more) subject areas.
As we became better at working together and team teaching, our projects
became more and more involved and elaborate. Papers became stories,
which became presentations, which then grew into multi-class hands-on
experiences.
We used our school social
studies curriculum as a starting point for projects. The first marking
period of the year we connected to Africa. The second marking period was
spent studying Asia. And our third marking period was spent in
historical Europe.
The medieval European time
period lent itself to creative ideas in all classes. We tried to make
English-class connections with fairy tales and legends from various
European cultures. Science and math classes studied explorers,
inventors, and inventions. We also had the students write children's
storybooks describing a drop of water traveling through the water cycle
(it of course was set in the middle ages and included medieval details.)
After a few years of perfecting
our projects, we started thinking of creating culminating activities to
wrap up the unit for our students. During the study of Africa, we create
travel brochures and have small groups of students try to promote and
'sell' an African region as a great place to visit, work, or live. The
Asia unit culminates with the presentation of a student-created magazine
which includes articles on Asian stories, countries, and natural
disasters (we even recently did this project during our Europe study,
except our magazines were written on parchment or in monk manuscript
form).
The idea for a Medieval Fair
was first brought up by our art teacher. She has been contributing art
projects to all of our units through the years. She had our students
creating Adrinka cloths, and masks for the Africa unit. And our students
wrote calligraphy-styled Japanese letters for haiku poems, Mandala
paintings, and paint stamps (the fish stamp was quite interesting)
during our study of Asia.
You'll want to develop your
activity event around your interests and your particular curriculum. If
you and your students are excited about the topic and really interested
in it, you'll make it fun and fantastic! The biggest key is to have fun!
Start small. Our first Medieval
Fair was a fun time, but lacked enough activities to keep the students
occupied. We as teachers had to run the various activities, as well as
monitor the older students who were helping to run booths. It made for a
fun, yet hectic afternoon. Looking back, there was far too much
'administration and orchestration' for us to do BESIDES the running of
events. We needed more planning and prep time, and more help.
Reflection was important. We
met as a team right after the event and discussed what went well and
what needed to be improved. Items we needed to fix are shown in the list
below. We also set up meetings through the year to start working on our
list. Planning ahead of time proved to be the best adjustment we could
have made.
* more hands-on activities for
the kids
* free up the teachers to facilitate
* sponge activities for extra time
* match boy-only activities with girl-only activities at the same
station
* more and better prep time on decorations
* set up the gym & activity areas at least a day early
* coordinate a 'true' medieval lunch menu that our school cooks could
prepare
* bring in outside expertise
* better preparation of knowledge base
However, we were gung-ho about
the event, and we enjoyed it so much that we decided to start our
planning much earlier. We also knew we needed some outside help. We
wanted (and needed) to be free to move about the event, providing help
and assistance, and monitoring the students. And we couldn't do that if
we were tied down with running our own activities or groups.
We also experienced a
tremendous influx of students (and teachers) from many other grade
levels who wanted to see what we were doing. This, however, had to
change, as we spent too much time chasing off other students.
Look for more in the next
segment!
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TECH
CORNER
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iPods Are For
Education
By Mark Benn
Middle School Teacher
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Mark's latest
articles are about changing our classrooms and teaching styles
to reflect the latest changes in technology.
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So you think
an iPod is just a great music player. Think again. The iPod is becoming
another tool that makes learning exciting and rewarding for today’s
digital students. An iPod can be used for audio, video, photos, and
podcasting. This shouldn’t surprise you. But how about lesson plans,
notes, reference material, quizzes, portable harddrive, interactive
content, and RSS feeds?
Let’s take a closer look at the many uses mentioned in the first list.
When we talk audio it isn’t just music. There are audio clips of
famous historical speeches, animal sounds, Children's
Story Podcast where well known stories are read, poetry, and many
classical books available to listen to. In video, you can choose any
united streaming video and have it converted into a movie that’s
viewable on an iPod. Now students would be able to review a movie that
the whole class had already seen. You can also download videos from
Teachertube.com and Youtube.com, convert them, and use them on iPods.
There are many free educational podcasts available through the iTunes
Store for students to listen to.
Now, how about the surprises that were mentioned above. Imagine, if you
will, a student looking up a word in their iPod dictionary, or reading a
classic ebook, or looking up information in their encyclopedia. All of
this is possible, and more, when it comes to reference material.
Apple has collected lesson plans that are designed for iPod use. You can
also take notes and view them on your iPod. As a teacher, you could
write up your own notes for the students and sync them to their iPods.
Quizzes can be taken on the iPods. Apple has created an application
called iQuiz where you can make your own quizzes that students can take.
Also, QuizzlerPro.com has a quiz maker that can be used for iPods,
computers, or handhelds. These applications do cost, but are available.
Interactive content is another tool that excites students. Now you can
go to www.mogopop.com, and create your own material that can be
downloaded onto an iPod. The best part about it is that it is free.
There is also content already there that can be downloaded.
At this point, I would hope you can see just some of the many
possibilities that an iPod has for use within a classroom. A great place
to begin your research on educational uses for the iPod is at Tony
Vincent’s site located on the web at: www.learninginhand.com.
Then click on iPods and be supercharged.
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Mark Benn earned his B.S. from Western
Michigan University and his Elementary Certification from
Northern Michigan University. He is a 20 year teaching
veteran of 5th and 6th grade students at Inland Lakes Middle
School in Indian River, MI. He is currently working on
Masters of Integration of Technology from Walden University.
Prior to teaching, Mark spent 11 years as Department Manager for
Sears, Roebuck and Co. dealing with emerging technologies.
He has been married to his wife Bonnietta for 32 years with one
daughter and two sons. In the summers, Mark works for
Mackinac State Historic Parks in the as a historical
interpreter.
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StarTeaching Featured Writer
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Mark Benn is a leading expert in using technology
in the classroom.
You can feel free to contact him on email
at mbenn@inlandlakes.org
or at his blogsite: http://www.furtrader.blogspot.com/
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New
Teachers' Niche:
A Place for New Teachers, Student Teachers, and Interns |
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Learning
Pods and Classroom Setup
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| Setting up small learning groups, or communities,
in your class requires planning, not just in your instruction,
but also in the physical space of your room. |
When I decided to change my teaching style from a
teacher-centered, lecture format to a student-centered, project format,
I had to seriously contemplate how my room and its instructional
resources were arranged.
I knew I wanted to set up student 'pods' of four to five students.
Four makes a great sized group, but five is starting to push it. These
sizes also fit with the number of computers I had available. Each pod
needed one computer for the group to use, as well as workspace, achieved
by placing desks next to each other forming a table.
I placed the pods at the outside walls for a few important reasons.
First was to get some elbow space between students and groups. I wanted
to eliminate interaction between groups so students could concentrate on
their own group's activities. Secondly, this arrangement allowed me to
monitor the computers at all times. Third, this setup created better
traffic flow through the room, since students would often need to move
back and forth to the central resource center.
I've set up the resource and presentation center in the center of the
classroom. This is where I keep student file cabinets (the short types),
dictionaries & thesauri, school supplies, and art-type supplies.
I've combined this storage area with my podium, overhead projector, and
the other tech equipment like vcr or dvd players, digital projectors,
and the like. This allows for easy student access to all resources, and
I can effectively use all of my wall space when I need to present
material.
The 'traditional' classroom and the 'student-centered' classroom are
very different both in philosophy and in the application. The basics of
setting up your classroom to reflect the learning environment you've
envisioned must be thought through carefully before jumping right into
the pods.
Having previously taught in the traditional manner, I've found the pod
setup, or student-centered class, to be both a challenge and a benefit
to student learning. Now that I've had a chance to compare them, my
students and I prefer the pods.
Be sure to check out our website for the FREE teacher Who-I-Want-To- Be
plan and other great Freebies for new teachers. Simply click the
following link: http://www.starteaching.com/free.htm
|
Be sure to check out our website for more great
information, tips, and techniques for new teachers,
student-teachers, and interns in teacher prep programs. Also be
sure to check out our Who-I-Want-To-Be teacher plan for
preparing yourself to enter the educational profession. Simply
click the following link: http://www.starteaching.com/free.htm
Want to check
out the articles in our Student-Teaching series? Check out our
special Student-Teaching page through the following link: http://www.starteaching.com/studentteachers.htm
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Our July WEBSITE OF THE MONTH award is
presented to, KidsSpell, a site for
students to practice their spelling skills.
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KidsSpell
is a site where students can practice their spelling skills in an
interactive computer environment. There are eight different games
and modules students can use. Kids can use any one of the
350 lists already generated on the website, or enter their own list of
words. Teachers can also create lists for their classes to use and
practice.
This is a user-friendly website with quick links to the
various parts of the site. It is a great resource for writing
teachers in all grade levels.
Check this site out, you'll be glad you did. Simply click the
link below:
http://www.kidsspell.com
|
Be sure to check out our website for more great
information, tips, and techniques for new teachers,
student-teachers, and interns in teacher prep programs. Also be
sure to check out our Who-I-Want-To-Be teacher plan for
preparing yourself to enter the educational profession. Simply
click the following link: http://www.starteaching.com/free.htm
Want to check
out the articles in our Student-Teaching series? Check out our
special Student-Teaching page through the following link: http://www.starteaching.com/studentteachers.htm
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School or District Who Would Love to Receive Our Newsletter?
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pass along our website and newsletter!
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"Who
Packed Your Parachute?"
Author Unknown Themes
on Life
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Do we recognize those people
who truly help us out every day?
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Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat
missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb
ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6
years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now
lectures on lessons learned from that experience!
One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at
another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet
fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot
down!"
"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.
"I packed your parachute," the man replied. Plumb gasped in
surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess
it worked!" Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute
hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."
Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says,
"I kept wondering what he had looked like in a Navy uniform: a
white hat; a bib in the back; and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how
many times I might have seen him and not even said 'Good morning, how
are you?' or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was
just a sailor." Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had
spent at a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully
weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his
hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know.
Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?"
Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the
day. He also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his
plane was shot down over enemy territory - he needed his physical
parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his
spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching
safety.
Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is
really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you,
congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them,
give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason. As you go
through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your
parachutes.
See more of our Freebies as well as Special
Reports on our website by clicking the quick link below:
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Make sure to BOOKMARK our website so you can
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free to share our site by EMAILING it to a friend.
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