StarTeaching Features for Teachers First April 2008 Newsletter

Citrus Fruit:
One band fundraiser that fits the easy fundraiser formula is selling cases of citrus fruit shipped direct from the Florida groves.

Here, the band members use an order-taker brochure to explain the offering to prospective supporters.

You really need to go door-to-door or sell from a merchant table to achieve the kind of numbers where you'll raise substantial funds. This is perfect for a band group with enough members to canvass entire neighborhoods by working in pairs.

Customers can choose from Navel Oranges, Tangelos, Tangerines, Red Grapefruits, and mixed cartons. Order sizes range from ten pounds all the way up to forty pounds.

A common size is 2/5 of a bushel or 20 pounds. Generally, you can expect to pay roughly $8 for this size and make a profit of $4 each. These are rough prices because citrus fruit can vary in price based on weather patterns and availability.

Citrus fruit is a wintertime offering with availability best between mid-November through mid-April. There are discounts for large orders and bonuses for ordering a whole truckload.

Christmas Wreaths:
Another band fundraiser that's a good fit is selling Christmas wreaths via an order-taker brochure.

It's another late fall fundraiser that takes advantage of a holiday "must have" decoration.

Since they're made fresh, you can get an early jump on the retail stores and conduct your fundraiser as an order taker before Thanksgiving.

There are a number of offerings in addition to the traditional door wreath.

Suppliers also offer door swags, mantelpieces, centerpieces, candle wreath packs, and fresh cut holly. Prices range from $17 up to $50.

Profits are approximately 40% of the selling price on most items, so it makes a great band fundraiser because the total revenue is high.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how quickly your band profits can add up with an aggressive marketing campaign. You need to set some high goals for each band member, such as ten sales each before Thanksgiving.

Delivery is easy, with each wreath sealed in a plastic bag to preserve freshness. Get your orders in early and allow two weeks minimum for delivery.

Coffee Fundraiser:
A third band fundraiser that produces great results is a coffee sale. Like the other two fundraisers we've already discussed, a large selection of pre-bagged coffee products are sold via an order-taker brochure.

Your supporters can select from twenty or more flavors. Most suppliers have small "dollar bags" or the better selling half-pound package.

Usually, the cost for a half pound of quality coffee is $3, and the retail price is $5 or $6. You can offer a choice of whole bean, or ground varieties.

The idea here is to tap into the market for something that almost every household buys regularly, then expand upon it with multiple flavors.

Their names conjure up images of a cup of coffee wafting delicious aromas throughout the kitchen - flavors like Hazelnut, Toasted Almond, Hawaiian Coconut, Butterscotch, or Morning Glory.

Again, success is best achieved by presenting your offering to large numbers of prospective supporters. Set up a table at any event that draws a large crowd. Offer samples from tiny paper cups. Get the word out to as many people as you can.

Your band group works hard. Make sure you pick a band fundraiser that works just as hard by being impossible to resist.

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A while back I wrote about Web 2.0 and what it was all about. It's now time to revisit this issue and get more practical about its use.

To refresh your memory, Web 1.0 was basically static. You went to the Internet to get written information or pictures. The only interaction you had with the Internet was the reading you did. Along came Web 2.0, and with it a move from static to interactive. Today, you are no longer just a consumer, but can become a producer as well. Students today see the Internet as a part of them and their daily lives as they interact with it. So how can we make it a part of the everyday classroom?

1. Documents-In our school, a student opens up Microsoft Word and works on their document. When they save it, it goes into their network file until they need it later. The problem with this is, what if they want to work on it later at home? Sorry, it can't be done. Or what about the student that does work on a document at home and then emails it to school. Once at the school they can't open it up properly because of the application they used at home. How about moving from one system to another, meaning from Linux to Mac to PC? This causes plenty of headaches. What if I told you all this could be solved. We are beginning to shift our students to Web 2.0 applications. All my students have opened an iGoogle account. It's free and easy to do.

step 1-open google
step 2-choose Sign in at the upper right
step 3-then choose Create an account now at the middle right

Once you've opened an account, make sure you confirm the email. In your iGoogle account choose Add Stuff at the top right. Then type in google in the Search for Gadgets section. Choose Google Docs. Make sure you are using Foxfire, Internet Explorer, or Safari 3.0 for your browser. Once set up you are now ready to compose and save any documents you want. All the problems of before will be gone. A student can get to their work any time and print it from any computer.

The account also has Spreadsheet and Presentation applications. These don't have all the bells and whistles of Microsoft Office, but they do the job. Another place to go is www.zoho.com. Once again, it is free and has even more applications. Both Google and Zoho are continuing to improve their applications.

2. Blogs-Blog is short for Web Log. The best way to describe it is an online journal. You, as the teacher could post and have students comment on it. Research has shown that students write better when they know others will see it. That has certainly been the case when I've done blogs. There are many sites out there, but the one I use is www.classblogmeister.com.This site is designed for teachers. A student's blog is not published until you, the teacher, has approved it. You can make comments and then send it back for editing before it is published. The other thing is, you can teach students how to make good comments on other blogs. Once again, these comments don't go anywhere until you've approved them.

3. Videos-Have students make videos on what they've learned and upload them to www.teachertube.com. Make a How to video and make it available for your students to use. The good thing is the fact that this is not a site that's blocked in schools.

4. Wiki-I know you are probably saying, what is that? A wiki is a collaborative tool where students can work together on the same project at the same time. Create a wiki and participants can go to the wiki at their convenience to add, change, and edit content. You can add images and web-links to the document. There are many sites available for this. I've used http//voicethread.com/#home . This is a site for K-12 educators to use with their students. The difference that this site offers is voice. Check out the site to see examples of what can be done with the students. This is a site for even the younger students to use and be creative.

We live in a different world where the Internet is a vital part of it. I've only touched on some of the possibilities. We, as educators, need to bring real world application into our classrooms, instead of turning our students off to learning with our 20th century ways. Check it out and give it a chance, because your students will be more engaged, and with proper engagement comes learning.

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.

StarTeaching Featured Writer

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/

The phrase "obsessive-compulsive" has worked its way into the wider English lexicon, and is often used in an offhand manner to describe someone who is meticulous or absorbed in a must have either obsessions or compulsions alone, or obsessions and compulsions, according to the DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria. The Quick Reference to the diagnostic criteria from DSM-IV-TR (2000) describes these obsessions and compulsions:

Obsessions are defined by:
1. Recurrent and persistent thoughts, impulses, or images that are experienced, at some time during the disturbance, as intrusive and inappropriate and that cause marked anxiety or distress.

2. The thoughts, impulses, or images are not simply excessive worries about real-life problems.

3. The person attempts to ignore or suppress such thoughts, impulses, or images, or to neutralize them with some other thought or action.

4. The person recognizes that the obssesed thoughts, impulses, or images are a product of his or her own mind.

Compulsions are defined by:
1. Repetitive behaviors or mental acts that the person feels driven to perform in response to an obsession, or according to rules that must be applied rigidly.

2. The behaviors or mental acts are aimed at preventing or reducing distress or preventing some dreaded event or situation; however, these behaviors or mental acts either are not connected in a realistic way with what they are designed to neutralize or prevent or are clearly excessive.

In addition to these criteria, at some point during the course of the disorder, the sufferer must realize that his/her obsessions or compulsions are unreasonable or excessive. Moreover, the obsessions or compulsions must be time consuming (taking up more than one hour per day), cause distress, or cause impairment in social, occupational, or school functioning. OCD often causes feelings similar to that of depression.

Bobby Rcci sometimes does. Modern research has revealed that OCD is much more common than previously thought. An estimated 1 in 50 adolescents and adults are thought to have OCD. However, because of the condition's personal nature, and the lingering stigma that surrounds it, there may be many unaccounted-for OCD sufferers, and the actual percentages could be even higher.

The typical OCD sufferer performs tasks (or compulsions) to seek relief from obsession related anxiety. To others, these tasks may appear odd and unnecessary. But for the sufferer, such tasks can feel critically important, and must be performed in particular ways to ward off dire consequences and to stop the stress from building up. Examples of these tasks: repeatedly checking that one's parked car has been locked before leaving it; turning lights on and off a set number of times before exiting a room; repeatedly washing hands at regular intervals throughout the day.

Symptoms may include some, all or perhaps none of the following:
Repeated hand-washing.

Specific counting systems — e.g. counting in groups of four, arranging objects in groups of three, grouping objects in odd/even numbered groups, etc.

One serious symptom which stems from this is "counting" your steps, e.g. you must take twelve steps to the car in the morning.

Perfectly aligning objects at complete, absolute right angles, etc. This symptom is shared with OCPD and can be confused with this condition unless it is realized that in OCPD it is not stress-related.

Having to "cancel out" bad thoughts with good thoughts. Examples of bad thoughts are:

Imagining harming a child, and having to imagine a child playing happily to cancel it out.

Unwanted sexual thoughts. Two classic examples are fear of being homosexual or fear of being a pedophile. In both cases, sufferers will obsess over whether or not they are genuinely aroused by the thoughts.

A fear of contamination; some sufferers may fear the presence of human body secretions such as saliva, sweat, tears, or mucus, or excretions such as urine or feces. Some OCD sufferers even fear that the soap they're using is contaminated.

A need for both sides of the body to feel even. A person with OCD might walk down a sidewalk and step on a crack with the ball of their left foot, then feel the need to step on another crack with the ball of their right foot. Also, if one hand gets wet, the sufferer may feel very uncomfortable if the other is not.

There are many other possible symptoms, and one need not display those above to suffer from OCD. It is important to remember that one must be diagnosed by a doctor to officially suffer from OCD in medical terms; furthermore, possessing the symptoms above is not an absolute sign of OCD.

The students each check out an autobiography/biography book from the library. I require teacher's permission and approval before check out. I do allow students to use outside books, but they must still be brought in to be approved.

We allow students to 'test drive' the books for a one-week span. If the subject is just too boring or awful for the student, I do allow them to change books (though the due date stays the same!) The most important aspect to me is the reading of the book; we'll take time every day during the project to quiet read in the classroom. I want to stress the importance of the reading of biographical text, since it's much different than the fictional works they normally read.

You can also skip ahead of the reading of the book and move right into the fact finding session. If you have internet access and an updated encyclopedia you can find most or even all of the facts abut your subject. But make sure your students are reading the books too. This is important to get an overall, rounded-view of their character. Be careful that your students have chosen biographies and not historical fiction or the various 'diary' books out there now!

This next step is to identify what information you want your students to find about their subject. We call this our 'fact-finding' stage. We complete a note taking sheet which organizes the students' research. You can find a copy of our 'fact-finding' worksheet on our website. There are basic facts to find such as personal and family information, employment, and education.

Then there are the facts which must be uncovered, such as mentors they had, who they have influenced, their impact on society, and why they'll be remembered in history. Lastly, I'll have students complete several short writing assignments extending the new knowledge. Sometimes students create interview questions and formulate fictional answers based on what they think the person would say. Another idea is to create a fictional conversation with that person which is held around a dinner table or around a campfire. There are many applications you can create to use the students' facts.

Finally, you need to consider what the students will do with their completed research. We have had students create PowerPoint documents and give in-class presentations. We have had them create posters to display their findings. This year we're putting our research onto each student's website along with any multi-media that is available to us (such as clip art, photos, audio and/or video clips).

Most years, we will have students pair up and interview each other. Students find out personal information about each other, such as basic family and friends, schools and education, and where they've lived. They pose questions on likes/dislikes, favorites, and goals for the future. You can go ahead and create a short sheet of sample questions, then allow students to create their own as the interview goes on (also check out our website for a FREE printable copy of the interview sheet we use in class). Allow each student about 10-15 minutes to ask questions and write down answers, then have students trade roles.

Now you have enough information to create student biographies (or give the data sheets to the owners and have students create autobiographies). We will write these up in a narrative form to tell a life story, but we've also done projects like PowerPoints, web pages, and posters. One favorite is cutting out t-shirt shapes out of paper and having students write on them and decorate them with photos, drawings, and clip art. These are then presented to the class and hung in the hallways.

The biography project is not only required in our curriculum, but it is also fun for the students. It is also a great means of incorporating an informational text (non-fiction) into your class curriculum.

Interested in FREE writing activities you can print out and use immediately in your classroom? Simply click the following link to our writing page: http://www.starteaching.com/writing.htm

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

		FEATURES FOR TEACHERS
Visit our Website at: www.starteaching.com		Ideas and Features For New Teachers and Veterans with Class						Volume 4, Issue 7 April 2008
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