The Rise of Narcissism - Is Social Media to Blame?

In recent research for my class's next debate, the topic about the effects of Social Media on our society, and specifically teens, kept coming up in the search.  I have strong opinions about today's social media.  That's not saying I am against it.  I am currently involved in a wide variety of social media sites: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Linked In, and Edmodo. I am also an active participant on various educational blogs, as well at the manager of two blogs I use in my classroom. Of all of these sites, only Facebook is used for personal communication with family or friends.  The information I receive on all of these sites are instantaneous, up-to-date, and productive to my success professionally and personally.  I have had the joy of watching my nieces and nephews grow up through Facebook, as well as improve the technology utilization in my classroom thanks to all of these great resources.  But, I am alarmed by one word that keeps coming up when it comes to the effects of these social networking sites on today's population.

Narcissism: The inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love, vanity.  Synonyms: self-centeredness, smugness, egocentrism. (Dictionary.com)

I remember hearing this word, but narcissism remained off my radar.  I have never considered how I could use it in my every day conversation or writing.  It seems that narcissism is slowly becoming the latest catchphrase label to describe our most recent developing "Me" generation.  Who or what is to blame?

Flipped Classroom Success Doesn't Happen Overnight

If you are looking for a blog to support your ideas of a flipped classroom, this may not the site. Flipped lessons are the new rage in changing education, motivating students, and improving student performance. Although I admit that I have a lot to learn when it comes to planning and implementing a true flipped lesson or unit, I can't  help but feel that I constantly run into the same roadblocks as the traditional classroom.  It is not easy to plan flipped lessons when we may be limited by resources at school and home.  Perhaps the promise of potential one to one technologies will lower some of the most obvious obstacles of my flipped lessons. I am still left with teaching conundrums such as planning, collaboration, assessment, and student management. Please continue reading.  The next paragraph contains some of the resources our class used to build our background knowledge of Flipped Classrooms.  My students were asked to leave their comments below as they discuss their experience with our Flipped Lessons. 

Same Gender Classes: A Cost Effective Way to Increase Test Scores

Same gender classes may be cost effective, but at what cost?  Recently there have been many different budget crunching unconventional alternatives in education that promise low cost opportunities that will increase student performance.  Online classes, flipped classes, home school academies, one-to-one technology initiatives, are a few different ways given as education innovations. All of them have their positives and negatives, and some may not be so cost effective.  Same gender classes  might be an option that, with some creative scheduling, may offer a learning option statistically supported to increase student performance and scores.

Separating girls and boys in the public school generates debate into how different students think, and some even wonder if it is discrimination. GreatSchools.org says that there are many factors that must be considered when discussing same gender classes.  The physical and mental development of the whole child needs to be examined to determine if a single gender class is the perfect set up before a move like this should be made. Professional development for teachers will also need consideration for teachers to understand the differences in male and female learners.

The idea of same gender classes is fascinating discussion, and it was presented to the sixth grade students at our school.  Each class was given some of the resources attached to this blog to build their background knowledge on what the pros and cons of same gender classes might be.  For one entire class period, our sixth graders were separated and taught in a single gender atmosphere.  The lesson involved three levels of learning, considering silent reading and responding individually, working in pairs to complete a task, and finally in small groups to end the hour and provide a summary to the lesson.  All of these parts may make up the lessons of a mixed gender class almost every day.

What were the results?  As part of this assignment, I am asking my sixth graders to express their thinking on the topic of same gender classes. As a participant of our activity, what did you think?  Did you change your mind about same gender classes?  What was the most powerful thing you noticed? Let the discussion begin.

Check out our November post from last year. See what kids had to say last year.

As a reader and observer of this post, check out the resources attached. Feel free to comment on what you think about same gender classes as a cost effective way for schools to improve student performance.

12 Months of School! Are You Kidding Me?

It's August.  Summer sports are over.  Your family already took that trip to the Dells, or maybe even some place far away.  Now what?  Are these what they call the dog days of summer?  One thing that is happening is forgetting; forgetting what you learned in school the previous year.  How many kids are picking up their books to review their subjects to they can start the year running?  My guess is very few. Hence, this is an issue with the traditional school calendar.

New scenario.  It's the middle of August. Your family did all of the things you usually do in the summer including sports and vacations.  The difference is that you are already in school.  You might need a little time to review last school year's concepts, but for the most part, you are fresh from your four weeks off of school, and you still remember what you learned last year. That is what is said can happen if districts decide to convert to a balanced year round schedule.

Year-round school has generated debate in districts around the country as a way to improve test scores and meet budget demands. The debate seems to be split down the middle. One thing that has to be clear.  Students do not go to school 12 straight months.  In year round school, the number of days students are in class will be very similar, it's just that vacations will be spread out over a consistent calendar

We have spent a lot of time on this topic.  It's time to put your voice to debate on our blog.  Assume Oshkosh is going to consider balanced scheduling for next year.  What do you think? Be sure to support your opinion with content from our lessons and the websites provided. Please feel free to respond to posted comments, but be sure to elaborate on your opinion with facts as well

Do We All Need A Pep Talk?

I have a poster in my room that has been there for the past five years, and it has been one of the most important messages I can give to the sixth graders that might find themselves in a rut in my class.  Believe me, the advice is appropriate for adults as well.  It is the picture of a crawling baby making a serious, wrinkled brow face.  We all know the face.  The caption on the poster reads, "Baby Philosophy: If Something Stinks, Change It!"  Perhaps that is the message by Kid President in a recent video that was sent to me by at least five different people today. Perhaps we all need this little pep talk.

A Pep Talk From Kid President to You is a video promoted by the website, SoulPancake.  The video showcases nine year old Robby Novak acting as Kid President encouraging people to get moving, change something, and make a difference. It has over 6 million views and is still growing.  6 million people?! That's a lot of pep talk.

Read the article By Laura T. Coffey, of TODAY if you want to get more details about Robby Novak and how he got involved in inspirational web videos.

Visit the websites SoulPancake and Kid Presidentt. Pay attention to the details of these two sites.  What makes them unique? What is their motivation?

Watch the Pep Talk video.  What do you think?   What is the message?  How did it make you feel?  Begin your discussion today.

Human Rights: Is that what's really happening?

Human rights violations from around the world, and the United States are reported in the news every day.  What are our human rights? Are they written down somewhere?  Is it like the Constitution of the United States?  The United Nations, an organization composed of most of the world's developed and developing countries, adopted a draft of the first Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 as a result of the horrific events that took place before and during World War II.  There is a brief History of Human Rights given on the United Nations home page that gives a quick story of the drafting process at the time of it's development.

There are 37 different sections to the Declaration of Human Rights. United for Human Rights is a website that outlines some of the articles in the Declaration in greater detail, and gives example of some of the most offensive human rights violations currently happening around our world.

We will be reading a variety of books that have human rights as one of their primary themes.  As you begin your thinking about your book, consider how human rights will play a role in the conflict for your main character.  Most will be obvious, but some might require some inquiry into your setting or characters. What are some specific human rights stories you already know or have read about? What more do you need to know to understand your human rights? Start your pre-thinking today.

Home Schooling: A proper alternative to public education?

 We have been studying different ways that students can be educated in the twenty-first century. Technology, high stakes testing, and school funding have created a whirlpool of change in education in the past ten years. Homeschooling is a growing trend being used by parents to battle these changes, and try to provide the best possible education for their children. The following publications have different points of view on the topic of homeschooling.

The Pros and Cons of Homeschooling by Isabel Shaw from the Family Education website. This article is a quick background resource to discuss some of the issues when considering homeschooling as an option for a quality education.

Homeschool.com: The number one homeschool community is a website devoted solely to parents who are homeschooling or considering homeschooling.

The Real Cons of Homeschooling is an entry written by Tammy Takahashi from the blog, Just Enough, Nothing More listing 10 reasons homeschooling might not be the best educational choice.

Sharon Chen, a reporter for Fox News in San Diego did a news story entitled, Interest in Homeschooling Surges after the shootings at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. This article brings to light a whole new reason parents may consider homeschooling in today's increasingly violent society.

Let the debate begin here.  We discussed this in class.  You have read the pros and cons.  What do you think about homeschooling as an option to improve education?  Be sure to make your thoughts complete.  Site the resources to support your opinions.

The Flipped Classroom: A growing trend or passing fad

In today's world of changing technology, access to the world wide web, and availability of  technology resources, schools are considering many different ways of adapting instruction to meet the needs of the students. Schools are under a lot of pressure to increase test scores, improve attendance, provide a safe learning environment while operating under tighter and tighter budgets.  Perhaps Flipped classes are the answer. Flipped classes are where instruction is done through web based learning and the students then come together with the teacher leading collaboration while providing remedial instruction and activities where needed.  Teachers could possibly reach many more students at the same time and actual minutes in class can diminish since lectures and information transfer occurs on student time.

Watch this You Tube video, Why I Flipped My Classroom, by a teacher who describes why she switched to a Flipped classroom.   

This is another You Tube video, Flipping the Classroom - Simply Speaking, that attempts to explain a Flipped classroom.  This one is focused more for the high school level.

What do you think?  Will a Flipped classroom model work at Merrill? Will it work for you personally?          

Should Boys and Girls be Taught Separately?

There has always been private all male or female schools.  The advantages and disadvantages can be debated.  Eliminating the distractions that may occur in coed classes can improve performance of the students in those classes.  Learning to adapt to the different learning styles of different genders might be a sacrifice of being in a single gender class. Many public schools are now considering using this strategy to improve learning for all students, especially in the core areas. Read the article by Laura Marquez from ABC News. The article gives the perspective from both side of the argument. There seems be some legal roadblocks, but as the pressure is put on schools to produce a better product, more creatively needs to be considered.  The arguments for single genders classes are growing louder. Is it time for a change?

I am intrigued by the idea.  I don't believe having math or literacy in a single gender class is going to diminish a student's ability to get along with different genders. There will still be many opportunities to associate with the opposite sex and build relationships necessary to be successful in the future. I see more positives than negatives.  Maybe it's worth a try.

What do you think?  Be sure to defend your answer or response to a post with evidence from the article or another source.  Your opinion matters, but it matters more when there is a professional standing behind you.