If you need a little boost...

anyone ever experience a student who no matter WHAT you do (i.e. pretty much HAND FEED them everything) they will still not produce any work for you???

well, if you haven't experienced this, tell me what you are doing, because i have had a fair share of intentional non-learners.

so i heard this quote this weekend, and it made me laugh because it reminded me of a handful of my students...

"you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink."

amen.

ok, what do people need???? comment if you need ideas for lessons!

love you all. wait, are we really almost into FEBRUARY???!

p.s. GREAT month to do the social unit...dating lesson on Valentine's Day anyone??

p.p.s. thanks kaitie for finding this!

here.

"brilliant! - Take your cup and place an empty toilet paper roll inside. Now place your popsicle sticks inside the roll. Now you can pull from inside the roll. After you call the student, place their popsicle stick on the outside of the roll. * If there was a student that you think you might want to call on again just place them back inside the roll. Now students won't know who you're going to call on. They'll just think you're putting all the names back into the cup! So brilliant!"

Question about YouTube

Hi Everyone!

My School District blocks YouTube from being accessed, and so I was wondering if any of you are facing the same problem and ways that you dealt with it and were able to show your videos.

Thanks!

Kaitie

Healthy Relationships

Do any of you have any good ideas for a healthy relationships lesson plan?? I'm not focusing on dating or anything quite yet or communication just healthy relationships. Post if you have any good activities or ideas! That would really help! Thanks all.

REAL Teachers

have some down time??? ok, i definitely needed some rejuvenating before the start of second term and i stumbled upon/the Spirit graciously shared with me this talk.

it's beautiful, and a quick one! only 10 minutes to watch.

but if you don't have 10 minutes, here's a gem i loved in it...

"Those who teach after the manner of the Spirit understand they teach people, not lessons. As such, they overcome the urge to cover everything in a manual or teach all they have learned on the subject and focus instead on those things that their family or class members need to know and do. Parents, leaders, and teachers who mirror how the Spirit teaches learn quickly that real teaching involves much more than just talking and telling. As a result, they intentionally pause to listen, carefully observe, and then discern what to do next. When they do this, the Holy Ghost is in a position to teach both learners and teachers what they should do and say"

Elder Richardson

hope all is going well! yeah for 2012 and health teachers!

xo

Words of Encouragement

i'm finally at the point where i feel like i'm no longer gasping for air, and i came across this blog post and i wanted to share some of her incredible, encouraging words!

1. BE PROUD. Go there feeling PROUD of what you're doing, no matter the level you're at!! You're trying to do something worthwhile whether it is for a hobby, a career, a creative outlet, a feeling of community. THAT'S JUST AWESOME. So do not for a moment go there feeling inadequate! Let's all go there and just feel good about what we are trying to do & feel good about our desire to improve. :)

2. WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. Each one of us is just trying to make a positive difference in some way. It will be great to all be there together cause we're all working on the exact same goal. Everyone there will be our friend in that way. We're all in the same boat. Some people have just been in that boat longer.

3. NO NEED TO COMPARE. Every single person has something unique to offer! I wouldn't dream of [being a health teacher] like anyone [else] as it just never could be. We can only share what we have.

4. THINK OF OTHERS INSTEAD OF OURSELVES. Instead of thinking of - - What will *I* say when I meet people? How will *I* be able to survive this presentation? Let's think about how we can make others comfortable & help them. Let's think about how we can share friendship & kindness or generosity with others & take the focus off of ourselves. We'll have a much greater experience if we do.

good luck to all of y'all who just started!! email/blog/text if you need ANYTHING!!!!!!!

New to the Blog...

Hello ladies! I am new to this blog and have some questions for you. Are any of you PE minors? If so, did you have to take the PE praxis exam? And do you have to do a PE teaching portion for student teaching? I feel as if Mel Olson, bless his heart, hasn't been too helpful... ;).

I am excited about this blog! Thanks for the invite Julia.

Cyber Safety

if you can get facebook in your classroom, this would be an incredible tool to show your students!! it proves that ANYONE can find most your information if you are not safe about what you put on the internet. my brother in 9th grade showed it to me and i was FOR SURE creeped out. here's a cnn article about it. sorry, it only works if you have facebook...

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/27/tech/social-media/take-this-lollipop/index.html

Social Unit-Dating

high school students would probably appreciate this video...

Nutrition

Cigarettes

i started off our cigarette unit by telling them we were going to make a recipe. they got excited because they thought they were going to make food. i brought in all the ingredients i had from home that went into cigarettes. i didn't have everything...such as rocket fuel...but i had quite a bit of these things:

first i pulled out vinegar...and asked, "who's still in" i lost about 1/2 the class. then i kept pulling out one by one.

in every class i got, "wait, is this real???" "wait, do people ACTUALLY eat this??" and i said, "yes!" at the end, i asked them, "ok, what do you think this is a recipe for??" and after a minute or two, someone usually figured it out.

a week later when we were studying for the exam, a student came up to me and told me she went home and told her mom's friend who was trying to quit what's in cigarettes, and her friend was able to stop smoking for at least a week! proud teacher moment.

Getting Students to Participate

sometimes it's hard getting everyone is the class to participate...especially first period. here are two ideas that i use CONSTANTLY in the class room which the students love because they feel like games.

1. whiteboards

i have homemade mine out of sheet protectors and cardstock. not too expensive and the kids LOVE them. remind them that if they wipe them off with their hands, it puts oils on the boards and ruins the markers. but no need to get erasers for everyone! just have them use the bottom of their markers. after about 5 days of using them, i have to clean them. i have a TA do it for me :) here's a picture of what they look like...

2. true/false construction cards

i couldn't find of picture of this so i will just explain. again, homemade and SO easy! you take two different colors of construction paper and cut them into 5'' by 4'' rectangles (or really any size...make it easy on yourself but they have to be wide enough to staple and fit your hand in!) put 4-5 staples on the sides (and yes, you need that many! kids shove their hands in and break them all the time!) and you'll have a "puppet-y" like invention. you put it on your hands and you can use them for true/false, yes/no, nutritious/non-nutritious, muscle/cardiovascular...any question with two answers and it's easy to see who's participating and who is not!! my kids love it because we do a countdown, "ok, on three! ONE....TWO....THREE!!" and it's a game to them. they other REALLY fun thing we did with them, is in our social unit, i used them for girls/boys. so we did questions like, "who should send the after date text." ha ha. they loved that one.

if that does not make sense email me or leave a comment and i'll explain more.

what easy, good ideas have you found??? please share and we'll get some stuff going for 2012!

already 1/2 way through january. so weird.

Hey All!! 

Did any of you save any powerpoints from Dr. Lindsays class??

I really want the alcohol powerpoint and the tobacco one.

Let me know if you do!

If not I'll just email him.