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August 2010

Autism Spectrum Toolbox

Submitted by Peggy on Mon, 2010-08-30 14:03


You have your new class list in your hands. A new year and a brand new set of students is an exciting and sometimes stressful time of each year for educators. What kind of learning styles will you see? Are you going to have new behavior issues that will throw you for a loop? What will really work to engage your students this year? Although most classes include a range of skill levels and learning types, this range can be increased for those mainstream teachers with students identified on the autism spectrum. How can we best serve these children so the school year can be productive and meaningful for all the students and the teacher?

The Impossible Field Trip

Submitted by Peggy on Mon, 2010-08-23 21:24


In light of the Perseid meteor showers this month, Joann featured a variety of resources about meteors and meteor showers in her post this week. My goal each week is to help you, the educator, successfully bring these resources into your classroom. As I thought about how to creatively teach about this topic, I was stumped for a little while. When I was in third grade, we were able to take a night field trip to an observatory to see a meteor shower. It was such a wonderful and memorable experience, and I know that many teachers would love to do this today. How can we do something like this when time and budget constraints will hardly allow it?

Kid-Ventors

Submitted by Peggy on Mon, 2010-08-16 07:52


According to "Curious George" Margolin, “an ‘inventor’ is almost any child under the age of about 9. He…lives partly in the ‘real’ world and ‘much’ in a world of possibilities and make-believe.” This is great news if you are teaching kids 9 and under, but how do we keep this curiosity alive in our older students? The following sites and resources can help maintain this intrinsic sense of curiosity that blossoms during the younger years. Please browse through these resources and search for more that will suit your needs on The Gateway. Good luck, and may you and your students be inspired and innovative this year!

Privacy Please

Submitted by Peggy on Sat, 2010-08-07 16:50


You know where they are going and where they have been any time, day or night. You know what they thought was funny and what really made them mad this week. You know which new band they like and you have even seen a picture of some of their favorite meals this week. Hardly a day passes when you don’t get to see a picture of the hilarious things their pets and kids have gotten into. It’s hard to believe you can know someone so well when you haven’t even seen this “friend” since college! Social networks like Facebook and Twitter make it easy to connect to people and make the world seem like a really small place. This new way of connecting comes with it’s own set of benefits and problems.