The Teacher (as Designer)'s Tool Box

A teacher is a designer of learning experiences. This blog provides resources for teaching all subjects through creativity and art.

56 notes

itssnix: Don’t know what to do with that fast test-taker during middle and high school exams? If you have access to a printer/copier, visit Patterns for Colouring and print out some great abstract coloring pages for them. I keep a stack of them in my room and the kids always like coloring them. :)

itssnix:

Don’t know what to do with that fast test-taker during middle and high school exams? If you have access to a printer/copier, visit Patterns for Colouring and print out some great abstract coloring pages for them.

I keep a stack of them in my room and the kids always like coloring them. :)

Filed under Education Art

19 notes

imyourartteacher:

Studio Art (9th-10th Grade) Vance Kirkland Dot Painting:

Up until this point I hadn’t really done any materials-intensive projects with my high school students, and I wanted to make sure to do one so that I had experience with materials management at the secondary level.  My cooperating teacher was going to begin a surrealism painting project when I left, so I chose to do an “intro-to-paint” project to prepare the students for it.

I wanted to make sure they knew how to manage the paint studio, how to mix colors, and some basic paint application techniques. I was inspired by a Vance Kirkland project that I found on incredible art department. I chose Kirkland because his work drew a lot of influence from aboriginal dreamtime paintings, so I was able to also include a multicultural aspect to this project. 

We began by priming our canvas with gesso, and then applying a layer of color for our backgrounds. Students then had to, using analogous colors, mix tints and shades to “splatter” onto their backgrounds. I created a “splatter-station” with cardboard boxes to contain the mess. 

Once students had splattered their paint, I had them look for the interesting shapes that the spatters made and then emphasize them with “dots” of different tints and shades of analogous colors. Students were also given the option of using an accent color outside of their color scheme if they chose too. We used different sized dowels to paint the dots. Above are some examples of what they came up with. 

Filed under Education Art

19 notes

tomesawayfromhome:

Back when I taught 10th grade, I’d use School House Rock to teach the parts of speech. I googled the lyrics and put them on one side of the paper and then I’d make practice sentences for the other side.

We’d watch the video and sing along, and then I’d play the video again and the kids would annotate the lyrics for the subject of the song (“find all the interjections,” “find all the nouns,” etc). Then they’d flip the paper over and reinforce the fun with the practice on the back of the sheet.

It worked really well, and solved many of the difficulties that aspect of writing presents to young people who’d never had a grammar lesson in their lives. It also made a good touchstone as the year went on and we worked with poetry too.

(Source: youtube.com)

Filed under Education Literacy

54 notes

itssnix: This document was the back page of an application for a school I looked at in my job-hunting stage. I don’t know where it originally came from, or why it was part of the packet, but I found the right two columns particularly helpful when anticipating interviews. Since there are a lot of recent graduates looking for jobs, I thought it would be a useful resource to throw out there. Click through to download the .PDF!

itssnix:

This document was the back page of an application for a school I looked at in my job-hunting stage. I don’t know where it originally came from, or why it was part of the packet, but I found the right two columns particularly helpful when anticipating interviews.

Since there are a lot of recent graduates looking for jobs, I thought it would be a useful resource to throw out there.

Click through to download the .PDF!

Filed under Education Topics

28 notes

vantagelearningblog:

Insults by Shakespeare

“You’re a fishmonger!” By taking a closer look at Shakespeare’s words—specifically his insults—we see why he is known as a master playwright whose works transcend time and appeal to audiences all over the world.

Filed under Education Literacy

605 notes

jtotheizzoe:

Recursive Drawing

Drawing programs don’t always have a “point”, even if they are fun. Recursive Drawing, however, aims to use a simple and addictive user-interface to explore how drawings could be translated into programming. 

On the surface, it’s a purely fun tool (which you can, and should, play with!) to draw crazy-awesome things like Fibonacci trees (like in the video). But deep down, it’s an experiment in translating visual objects into programming commands. That’s called a spatial or visual programming environment, and it’s a way to disconnect the syntax of programming from the logic and math.

Environments like these also let non-English speakers and young people get introduced to programming skills without having to master the language itself. But if you don’t want to pay attention to all that, it’s just really FUN!

Previously: A dangerously addictive online fluid dynamics simulator and a particle/gravity simulator that really looks more like fireworks.

Filed under Education Art

67 notes

hitherto kt: Challenging independent book project ideas!

Challenging independent book project ideas!

Dearest Education community,

In short, you rock. Here are all your thoughtful, amazing, creative project ideas for my 7th grader’s independent reading assignment. I’ll keep you update on what he ends up choosing! l Again, thank you!

  • Rewrite the endings! [revolutionizeed]
  • If you have a mac lab, use iBooks Author to create an interactive report, analysis, retelling, etc. [bbandsam]
  • Read a graphic novel and write it into a short story (use their dialogue, but add narration). [ana-coluthia]
  • An arts integration lesson- have him make Brian’s Winter into a comic book. Rewriting text/dialogue and adding illustrations! [ndrummond]
  • Give a presentation, on powerpoint, a poster, or whatever about his favorite author and why. [rshoney]
  • The 6 word stories. Or expanding moments and same story, different perspective type tasks. [aimingforpretty]
  • Fan fiction (using the story’s world/characters, but coming up with your own plot). [practicingempathy]

A super huge thanks to theimprobablefiction, who had several rockin ideas:

  • Character’s last will and testament. Which personal items would he leave behind? To whom? Why?
  • Write a personal essay connecting your own experiences/values with an issue raised by the novel.
  • Write a letter to one of the major characters giving him/her advice about life, decision making, problem solving, etc. Then write the character’s letter back to you.
  • Write a poem that accurately reflects the values of a character.
  • Write something in the voice of the character (ex. a missing chapter). Or design a survival guide based on the story.

And also to lhuddles, whose amazing (!!!) document had far too many ideas to include, but here are a few of my favorites:

  • A board game should come with three parts: the playing surface, the pieces, and the rules.
  • A book trailer is a short film that makes the watcher want to read the book—it does not give all the facts nor does it reveal the book’s ending. 
  • Write an advice column either to a character in the book or from a character in the book.
  • A found poem takes memorable or important lines from one text, pulls them out as individual lines, and then rearranges those exact words to form a new poem.
  • Create a song that relates to your focus. Your lyrics must be turned in (typed), and your song must be performed in front of the class.

Filed under Education Literacy

224 notes

writing prompts: Caroline's favorite fifteen prompts

1) The one where you fill the head up with words relating to you:

2) Be a Gamemaker, design a Hunger Games arena, and write about it:

3) Make a villain recruitment poster:

4) Tell a story with Disney princesses as hipsters:

5) You have been captured. You see a handbook saying “prisoner’s rights.” What does it say?:

6) Pretend you are in your 70s or 80s and complain about kids these days:

7) Invent a business. How would you run it?:

8) What would Earth be like if people didn’t need sleep?:

9) Describe a classroom through the teacher’s eyes:

10) Write a fairy tale based on the picture of the witch carrying a bag of kids:

11) Describe days of the week as if they were people:

12) Tell a story from the perspective of a painting in an art museum:

13) Day in the life of a dollar, first person:

14) Draw a monster and give it a story:

15) If you could have any celebrity be your parent, who would it be and why?:

Filed under Education Literacy

38 notes

10 COMMANDMENTS 4 INTERACTING w KIDS ON THE #AUTISM SPECTRUM

TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR INTERACTING WITH KIDS ON THE AUTISM SPECTRUM

1. Thou shall not yell when speaking to me.
My Autism does not impair my hearing and I am extremely bright. Perhaps even brighter than you are.


2. Thou shall not ignore me, talk negatively about me, speak unnaturally slow, or ask questions to others in the room that pertain to me.
I can comprehend what you are saying just fine.


3. Thou shall believe in me and help me believe in my skills and self worth.
Note the good in me and do not merely point out my negative behaviors. Believe in me and I will believe in myself.


4. Thou shall not perceive me as dumb.
I am extremely intelligent. I do not learn in the same way as you, and maybe not as quickly as you expect me to. Have patience with me. Once I recall information, I never forget.


5. Thou shall not judge my behavior.
I can get overstimulated in certain environments. I may be hypersensitive to sound and loud noises may hurt my ears. Fluorescent lights are distracting for me. They have a humming noise, and can pulsate. All the noises in a room can blur together. Please make accommodations to help me.


6. Thou shall not be so quick to scold me.
Do not tell me that “I know what I did”. I do not. Tell me what my infraction was in a simple, concise manner. I want to please you, but I have difficulties inferring meaning within a vague statement. For instance, do not say please clean up your bedroom. Tell me exactly what you want, such as ‘Please make your bed and pick up your toys”.


7. Thou shall not compare me to others.
Please remind me, and note the talents that I possess. This increases my confidence and positive self worth. Learning disabled or not, we ALL have talents to contribute within society. I need you to help me realize what mine is. Believe in me and I will believe in myself.


8. Thou shall not exclude me from activities.
Please do not mimic me, ignore me, or bully me. Please invite me to play with you. It hurts my feelings when I am excluded. I like to run and jump in the playground, and be invited to birthday parties too. Grown ups can help me make friends by encouraging other children to play with me. I can be a loyal friend if you get to know me.


9. Thou shall give me choices.
I do not like being ordered about any more than the other children. Give me choices so I know you value my capabilities and opinions. Make them simple and concise. Present two options or so. I get confused when too many questions or directions are given at one time due to my processing speed. For instance, ask me if I would like to wear my blue sweater or green one, rather than asking which sweater I would like to wear.


10. Thou shall not judge me by my diagnosis, but by my character.
I am an individual, just like other children.

(Source: jedipadmaster)

Filed under Education Inclusion Autism Special Needs