AM-LEarning 2014!

I can't believe this is my 5th year teaching in the middle school, and I have never heard of the AMLE (American Middle Level Educators) conference until their arrival to Nashville this year. It was two and half days of quite an assortment of learning opportunities. The conference was was kicked off with a group of motivating keynote speakers such as Dave Burgess, Cedrick Gray, Nikki Woodson & Kim Campbell. Mission accomplished, I walked out of the ballroom totally pumped and honored to be an educator.

I'm recording all of the brilliant ideas I saw this weekend before I forget them, or I file them away never to be seen again.

Teach Like a Pirate - Dave Burgess
My first session was the Teach Like a Pirate session with Dave Burgess. I had already read his book a couple of years ago, and his performance strongly reinforced the idea of creating an experience for kids by making the lessons come alive. While his lesson on teaching the branches of government was in his book, seeing it in person completely makes sense now. I am totally stealing this idea!

LGBT - Norma Bailey
Due to the horrible service at the restaurant as I waited for my lunch, I almost missed this session. I am so glad I walked out without my lunch. Norma was amazing! She beautifully stated that gay students are no more special than other students, but they are no more less either. So, how can we break the silence? Her suggestions included:

• Make LGBT issues explicit in the curriculum. 

• Easy to infuse in social studies with current events. Civil Rights unit is a natural path, not everyone has civil rights. A great essential question: What starts a civil rights movement?
• Language arts by using good literature such as:  Annie On My Mind, SP likes AD!, The Misfits (perfect for middle school), I am Jazz (picture book)

• Identify when an author is gay or lesbian.
• Science: genetics unit - Why are people gay?
• Math: Bring in graphs about LGBT data/people.
• http://glsen.org/nonamecallingweek
• How to handle harassment:
• Stop the harassment
• Identify the harassment
• Broaden the response
• Ask for change in the future

Close Reading
I also attended a few close reading sessions. The tying in of text evidence, finding patterns, and the value of questioning was pretty much the focal point in all of the sessions. Some ideas I want to try out are:

• Using metaphors to extend the thinking. "How is _____ like ________?" (example: How is water like electricity?) Then having the kids go back to the text to find text to support it. 
• Using the 5W & 1H to pull key details found in the text, then having students share and anchor it back to the text by having them provide the page number where the information was found.
• Image analysis by 1st asking students "What do you see?" then using a Sense-O-Gram chart
• Ask "What did the words make you see?" instead of "What did you read?"

Motivate & Engage Students to Think Critically through Close Reading of Complex Text - Leah Ames
Love the idea of students experiencing the value of multiple interactions with the text to deepen understanding by using the short clips from www.theinvisiblegorilla.com and the Doritos "Missing Cat Super Bowl XLVI" commercial.

Doritos Commerical
1st view What did you notice?
2nd view How did it happen?
3rd view Why or why not?

Another suggestion was to use songs such as "Brave" by Sara Bareilles, which generated a deep discussion among our group.

Note & Notice by Kylene Beers & Bob Probst
This duo did not disappoint! I had read their wonderful book and am anxiously awaiting their non-fiction version to be published. They ran through teaching kids to notice the six signposts with their accompanying anchor questions. Tell kids to read with their PENCIL in their hand! These strategies are helpful because the kids know the questions, so they will also know the answers or at least be looking for them as they read. Using this method gives the students ownership to the text.

If You Can't Manage Them, You Can't Teach Them! - Kim Campbell
Kim Campbell is an energetic and motivating presenter!  I was so impressed I sat through two of her sessions. I plan to buy her book on Monday.

Here are some of her ideas I plan to use:

• Partner Talking strategy 
• Partner A (talker) & B (listener - smile/nod only)
• Talk for 30 seconds (timers were a big deal, sense of urgency)
• Teacher approaches B to tell her what A said
• Brain Breaks (students can only listen to their age in minutes)
• Pinky and hand movement
• Get the Wiggles Out - 12345 (arm), 12345 (other arm), 12345 (each leg), 12345 (tush), 1234..., 123...., 12..., 1...
• Egg, Chicken, Cow, Human - Rock, Paper, Scissors 
• Rock, Paper, Scissors - sit when you lose, can get back up when their opponent loses to another person
• Groupings
• Index card 4 square to group up, 2 they pick and 2 where you give a criteria, helps with quick groupings
• Signals
• claps
• eyes on me
• hands on head
• chanting "When I say middle, you say school"
• Don't have more than 3-4 pet peeves at a time (try foam sheet for desk tappers)
• Never use "sh" 
• Use EXPECTATIONS not RULES - rules are meant to be broken
• NEVER redirect the same kid about a behavior twice! Hold them accountable.
• Post it Note Review Study Strategy (make extras for the early finishers)
• Write a name of a person, place or thing on post it
• Exchange Post It's (without seeing what the new post it says), put it on forehead
• Ask classmate 3 questions to try to figure it out
• Come back to seat when music starts 
• Draw it! Describe it! Do it!
• 1 or 2 = draw it (Pictionary)
• 3 or 4 = describe it
• 5 or 6 = do it, act it out
• Keyword Prediction - pre-reading strategy. Post random keywords for students to predict with their AB partners, collaborate as they play around with the words, even make up questions then ask teacher question. Then bring it up a notch by showing an image - what do you notice, wonder?
• 20 Word Summary in exactly 20 words summarize the main points after a 10 minute lecture.
• Mystery Participate - put 3 student names in your pocket, if all three of the kids participate get to play a round of Rock Paper and Scissor tournament. Don't tell them who it was if you don't meet the expectation.

AMLE's offerrings allowed me to be put a bit of everything on my learning plate. It was truly satisfying, just what I needed to take my teaching to the next level.

Understanding the World Through Geography

The National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE) holds an annual conference that is hosted in different cities every year. This summer it was held in Memphis which seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to connect and learn along with other educators from around the globe. There were so many interesting sessions offered that I, at times, felt torn wanting to be in three different places at one time!

A major part of the sessions included student learning opportunities that incorporated Geographic Information System (GIS). Advances in technology now allow our students to have access to current data which engages them in analysis, interpretation and critical thinking related to data maps.  ArcGIS Online, a cloud based program, is one of those resources.  ArcGis along with Google Maps also allows for time travel to explore past landscapes throughout history. The idea is for students to become geo-literate, looking for patterns in real-time like where people live and why.

National Geographic also presented its recently launched resources that offers educators map-based materials designed to build spatial thinking skills. Their mobile friendly technologies allow students to create and share their own map-based, multimedia geotours.

In addition to the GIS concept, sessions included activities using literature to make connections to reading, primary sources and maps. I felt like I was making curricular tweaks with each session I attended! For instance this year in our Civil Rights unit, I plan to incorporate the Green Book (1936-1964) which helped African American automobile travelers identify accommodations during the Jim Crow era. The session showcased teaching strategies using the Green Book, as a primary source, and the picture book Ruth and the Green Book in relation to geographic advancements in studying race relations, mobility and civil rights.

  

The last day of the conference a quote posted from President Obama caught my eye, "The study of geography is more than just memorizing places on a map, it's about understanding the complexity of our world." It truly sums up how the conference reinforced the importance of geography and that maps tell stories. The possibilities of using 21st century technology just makes the learning experience more authentic and engaging.