Get your students talking outside of class!

Are you a Google docs user? If not you're missing out on a really great (and FREE) resource for student collaboration. In addition, Google forms is great for creating evaluations.

How to get started? Create a Gmail account and log in. Go to Google Docs and start creating!

Here's a couple of examples of documents I've created - feel free to add to them!

1. Google Docs Document
2. Google Docs Slide Presentation 
3. Google Docs form - embedded below!

Sport Education - a cultural approach to "loving the game"

Got "Sport Education" in your PE program? If not, you are really missing out!

Sport education is a curriculum model that can be used to increase the "value" of sports, in participants, by allowing them to experience ALL key factors involved in the sport. It provides participants with a very broad and cultural understanding of the sport, in addition to the skills and rules that are taught in traditional PE curriculum models.

Tomorrow I will be delivering a presentation at a PE workshop at AUM - the topic is Sport Education. I have linked to my handout for those who are interested!

For more information about the Sport Education Curriculum Model, I encourage you to invest in this book: Complete Guide to Sport Education by D. Siedentop & P. A. Hastie

If an educational act is to be efficacious, it will be only that one which tends to help toward the complete unfolding of life. To be thus helpful it is necessary rigorously to avoid the arrest of spontaneous movements and the imposition of arbitrary tasks.

                                                                                                                         ~ Maria Montessori

James 1:2-4 ESV 

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

I humbly thank my wonderful family for their support in all that I do. Robert Robbie Cowan, Robert Drew Andrew Cowan, and Hunter Cowan Hartselle, Decatur, AL

Clothing Based Bias

This is a great activity used to help your students discover their biases. It was copied from the Teaching Tolerance website, which is an awesome center with lots of great resources.
I used this activity in my class - and it was great - the students really discovered things about themselves of which they were not aware.

In this lesson, students will explore the way clothing can influence our perceptions of one another.

"Who you are is more important than what you wear."
— Kenneth Cole, designer
Objective:
Students will find they impose stereotypes based solely on how someone dresses.
Materials:

• Handout: See this website: Teaching Tolerance website

Step One: Split your class in half, with half facing one side of the room and the other half facing the opposite side. Give the first half the Santa cap image and the second half the turban image.
Step Two: Ask the following questions out loud and have students write answers on their handout.

• What kind of emotions instantly come to you when you see this picture?
• Where do you think you learned about this individual?
• Who taught you about this individual?
• What did they teach you?
• How has the media (TV, movies, books, stories) shaped your image of this individual?
• How long have you known about this individual?
• Have you ever personally seen this individual?
• Have you ever seen someone dressed like this individual?
• Have you ever personally known someone who looks like this individual?

Step Three: After students have quickly jotted down answers, have students to share their responses and record them on opposite sides of the board.
To help you do this, and to help differentiate the two groups' responses, have a volunteer from each side of the room come up to record answers on the board. One side will be all Santa hat responses and the other side will be all turban responses.
Be prepared for students to be confused at the bizarrely differing responses to the image they believe all students are sharing.
Step Four: Hand out the page showing both Santa and the man in the turban. Ask the following lead questions and allow for discussion:

• What is different in the two images?
• Looking at our responses we've recorded on the board, what is similar or different about them? Why?
• Does it matter that most of you have had some experience with Santa during your lifetime? Why or why not?
• Would your responses to the image of the turban change if you knew someone personally for many years that wore one?
• What do you think we can learn from what we've done here?

Step Five: What are other groups of people we judge based solely on what they might be wearing?

If an educational act is to be efficacious, it will be only that one which tends to help toward the complete unfolding of life. To be thus helpful it is necessary rigorously to avoid the arrest of spontaneous movements and the imposition of arbitrary tasks.

                                                                                                                         ~ Maria Montessori

James 1:2-4 ESV 

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

I humbly thank my wonderful family for their support in all that I do. Robert Robbie Cowan, Robert Drew Andrew Cowan, and Hunter Cowan Hartselle, Decatur, AL

Kiddie Klan - race relations activity

A great activity from the Legacy of Hate website

Objective: To use a visual image to inspire discussion about race relations

Audience: High school students and adults

Materials Needed: A large copy of the photo (or photo can be projected), copies of discussion questions, and writing utensils

Time Required: 30 – 60 minutes depending on length of discussion

Required materials are on the Legacy of Hate website

If an educational act is to be efficacious, it will be only that one which tends to help toward the complete unfolding of life. To be thus helpful it is necessary rigorously to avoid the arrest of spontaneous movements and the imposition of arbitrary tasks.

                                                                                                                         ~ Maria Montessori

James 1:2-4 ESV 

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

I humbly thank my wonderful family for their support in all that I do. Robert Robbie Cowan, Robert Drew Andrew Cowan, and Hunter Cowan Hartselle, Decatur, AL

Edutopia recently released this video, which is part of a series taking a look at high-achieving education systems and model schools around the world. The series is co-produced with the Pearson Foundation. For more information see <a href="http://www.edutopia.org/education-everywhere-international-finland-video" target="_blank">Edutopia</a> or Pearson's "<a href="http://www.pearsonfoundation.org/oecd/" target="_blank">Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education</a>" page.
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If an educational act is to be efficacious, it will be only that one which tends to help toward the complete unfolding of life. To be thus helpful it is necessary rigorously to avoid the arrest of spontaneous movements and the imposition of arbitrary tasks.

                                                                                                                         ~ Maria Montessori

James 1:2-4 ESV 

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

I humbly thank my wonderful family for their support in all that I do. Robert Robbie Cowan, Robert Drew Andrew Cowan, and Hunter Cowan Hartselle, Decatur, AL

Pamper or Push?

In schools, self-esteem boosting is losing favor to rigor, reports Chandler of the WashingtonPost.com. 

The article reports that the age-old wisdom suggesting that high self-esteem leads to high achievement may be incorrect. This theory resulted in lots of "way to gos", "good jobs", and "everyone's a winner" praises and affirmations - but what research shows is that it led to very few, if any, academic gains. 

Current psychology and brain research has encouraged an increasing number of teachers to stop the "empty praise" cycle, and to instead, articulate a more precise, and scientific vocabulary for praise that will push children to work through mistakes and take on more challenging assignments. 

Learn more at at the Post

If an educational act is to be efficacious, it will be only that one which tends to help toward the complete unfolding of life. To be thus helpful it is necessary rigorously to avoid the arrest of spontaneous movements and the imposition of arbitrary tasks.

                                                                                                                         ~ Maria Montessori

James 1:2-4 ESV 

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

I humbly thank my wonderful family for their support in all that I do. Robert Robbie Cowan, Robert Drew Andrew Cowan, and Hunter Cowan Hartselle, Decatur, AL

14 Steps to Meaningful Blogging

Wanna try blogging with your students, but you aren't sure how to start? Read this great article 14 Steps to Meaningful Blogging. Mrs. Ripp walks you through getting started in easy-to-follow steps.

1. Pick an easy platform
2. Teach how
3. Safety
4. Commenting
5. Start small
6. Involving parents
7. Connect with peers
8. #comments4kids
9. Visits others
10. Explore
11. NO grading!
12. Challenge them
13. Map connections
14. Time

Get all of the details in the full article.

If an educational act is to be efficacious, it will be only that one which tends to help toward the complete unfolding of life. To be thus helpful it is necessary rigorously to avoid the arrest of spontaneous movements and the imposition of arbitrary tasks.

                                                                                                                         ~ Maria Montessori

James 1:2-4 ESV 

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

I humbly thank my wonderful family for their support in all that I do. Robert Robbie Cowan, Robert Drew Andrew Cowan, and Hunter Cowan Hartselle, Decatur, AL

Using images legally

Need an image/graphic for a presentation? For your website? Or to add to a student handout? Before deciding on an image be sure it's one you can "legally borrow". Basically there are three types of images you will find on the Internet -

1. Public domain & open source images - these images are free to use, but may require citation or permission to modify or edit in any way. 
2. Copyrighted images - Depending on the license, some images are not open for public use. One example of this is an image of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse. To use copyrighted, restricted images, you must have written permission from the copyright holder.
3. Royalty-free & stock images - you may purchase royalty-free & stock images to use without restriction both commercially and privately, but you cannot sell or lease these images.

Need help locating images that you can use legally? Check out the resources below!

Flickr - Flickr is almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world. Show off your favorite photos and videos to the world, securely
Freedigitalphotos.net - Download free and premium stock photos and illustrations for websites, advertising materials, newspapers, magazines, ebooks, book covers and pages, music artwork, software applications and much more. All our free images are of high quality, produced by our community of professional stock photographers and digital illustrators.
Google Images - 1. Go to google search and enter the image search term; 2. Once the results have been rendered, scroll to bottom of page and select "basic version"; 3. Click on advanced search options (top of page); 4. Under need more tools, select images available for reuse; 5. Click on search; 6. Select and open the image as a large file view; 7. Determine if there are any restrictions (should be listed with the image); 8. If credit is required then be sure to copy the URL and image source
Open Clip Art Library - The Open Clipart Library is the largest collaboration community that creates, shares and remixes clipart. All clipart is released to the public domain and may be used in any project for free and with no restrictions.
OpenStockPhotography - All images listed at Open Stock Photography come from Wikimedia Commons and as such "can be used by anyone, for any purpose
Wikipedia Commons - a database of freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute. MP images.png If an educational act is to be efficacious, it will be only that one which tends to help toward the complete unfolding of life. To be thus helpful it is necessary rigorously to avoid the arrest of spontaneous movements and the imposition of arbitrary tasks.                                                                                                                          ~ Maria Montessori James 1:2-4 ESV  Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. I humbly thank my wonderful family for their support in all that I do. Robert Robbie Cowan, Robert Drew Andrew Cowan, and Hunter Cowan Hartselle, Decatur, AL

7 things you should know about QR codes

Check out this informative article from Educause, 7 things you should know about QR codes, where they give you the "low down" on QR codes. They address the following questions:

1. What are they?
2. Whose doing it?
3. How does it work?
4. Why is it significant?
5. What are the downsides?
6. Where is it going?
7. What are the implications for teaching and learning?

If an educational act is to be efficacious, it will be only that one which tends to help toward the complete unfolding of life. To be thus helpful it is necessary rigorously to avoid the arrest of spontaneous movements and the imposition of arbitrary tasks.

                                                                                                                         ~ Maria Montessori

James 1:2-4 ESV 

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

I humbly thank my wonderful family for their support in all that I do. Robert Robbie Cowan, Robert Drew Andrew Cowan, and Hunter Cowan Hartselle, Decatur, AL

QR Codes - bringing life to art

Have you ever looked at a piece of art and wondered what the artist was trying to convey, what their message was? Wouldn't it be neat if the artist could talk to you while you were viewing the artwork? With QR does - the artist can!


QR Codes, also known as "quick response codes", have become very popular. They are used to link physical objects (magazine article, picture, art, projects, etc.) to virtual information (YouTube video, recorded message, digital presentation, etc.).

• How do you use them? Generate the code and paste it to the physical object. 
• How do you read them? With a QR scanner app installed on your cell phone.

See how one teacher used collaboration, integration and QR codes to bring new meaning student projects -  Transliteracy - QR Codes and Art.

Want to get started with QR Codes -

QR Code Generators

1. Google URL Shortener - Generate URL Codes for your proojects
1. Insert URL, 
2. Click "shorten"
3. Click "details"
4. Locate the QR code and save as an image file

QR CodeScanners

1. iPhones, iPad & iPod - QR Scanner from the App Store
2. Android - QR Barcode Scanner
3. Blackberry - QR Code Scanner Pro
   

If an educational act is to be efficacious, it will be only that one which tends to help toward the complete unfolding of life. To be thus helpful it is necessary rigorously to avoid the arrest of spontaneous movements and the imposition of arbitrary tasks.

                                                                                                                         ~ Maria Montessori

James 1:2-4 ESV 

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

I humbly thank my wonderful family for their support in all that I do. Robert Robbie Cowan, Robert Drew Andrew Cowan, and Hunter Cowan Hartselle, Decatur, AL