Articles
No Homework Left Behind
Through after-school support, rural Richland Middle School has turned
homework from a hassle into an opportunity. Roughly a third of
Richland's students were submitting homework late or not at all. The
usual cajoling and grade-reduction strategies weren't solving the
problem. So the school's faculty and staff began to "unpack" the
issue by surveying students, listening to parents, and asking
themselves some serious questions about "why we expect homework."
Find out what they learned and the actions they took in this article
from the Summer 2006 issue of Educational Leadership
When
Homework Works
Educators are conflicted about homework, says education consultant
Bea McGarvey. On the one hand, research shows that homework does have
an effect on learning. On the other hand, there is a litany of
complaints about it: Homework creates tension between parents and
their children. Children either have to be pressured to do the
homework or it's difficult to fit homework in. Homework takes away
from family time. And the list goes on. This article from ASCD's
Classroom Leadership (September 2003) shares McGarvey's
research-based ideas about an effective classroom and schoolwide
approach to homework.
RESEARCH-BASED HOMEWORK
Here's a concise "tip sheet" on effective homework policies, based on
the carefully researched learning strategies of Robert Marzano and
his colleagues ("Classroom Instruction That Works"). The suggestions
are framed around the experiences of an urban middle grades teacher
with large classes, many students below grade level, and low-level
family involvement in school activities. One key strategy: Getting
students excited about homework assignments!
DEALING WITH HOMEWORK
Read this chapter on effective middle school homework policies from
Rick Wormeli's best-selling "Day One and Beyond," in which he answers
questions like: Is homework important? How much? How often? For what
purposes? This is a small PDF file. (The link to purchase is below)
BACK TO TOP
Books
DAY ONE AND BEYOND,
by Rick Wormeli
DAY ONE AND BEYOND by veteran teacher Rick Wormeli gives you advice
on what to do in the first day & week, discipline, grouping, teaming,
parents, homework, record keeping, and more!
Meet
Me in the Middle: Becoming an Accomplished Middle-Level Teacher, by Rick
Wormelli
Drawing on the wisdom of educators, researchers, and twenty years of personal experience in the middle school classroom, Rick Wormeli lays out a clear vision of what responsive middle-level teaching can be in
Meet Me in the Middle: Becoming an Accomplished Middle-Level Teacher.
BACK TO TOP
Links
Sites
for Teachers
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Name
of Site
|
Description
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Algebra
Worksheet Generator
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A
resource of Math.com, this site literally generates custom printable
algebra worksheets based on your needs.
|
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American
Mathematics Competitions
|
Links to
organizations that sponsor mathematics competitions.
|
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Build
your own worksheets
|
self-explanatory...
|
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CasaNotes
|
customize typical
notes sent to parents (English and Spanish)
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Certificate
Maker
|
just what it sounds like.
|
| Creative
Teaching |
ideas & inspiration |
|
Educational
Vocabulary
|
online glossary of
educational terms
|
| Education
World |
EW is easy to use, well-indexed, and its articles
and features are frequently "refreshed" by its staff of editors and
writers. You name it -- history, language arts, math, PE and health,
science, special ed, social science, technology -- you'll find lesson
plans and how-to articles galore. Some of the best content at
Education World, in our opinion, is written by teachers and
principals who share insights from their own education practice.
See, for example, Best Idea Ever: http://snipurl.com/EWbestidea
|
| Edutopia |
This site, sponsored by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, is
one of the best on the Web for information and ideas about
cutting-edge teaching and learning. There's an emphasis on
technology, but the resources here go far beyond that. You'll find
stories about innovative middle schools, videos that show ideas in
action, interviews with experts, and a wealth of information on
special topics like Project-Based Learning, Mentoring, and Technology
Integration. Explore this site -- it's worth a couple of hours! |
| The
Eisenhower National Clearinghouse |
The Eisenhower National Clearinghouse (ENC), developed over nearly a
decade with federal funding, has been one of the great online
teaching resources for science and math teachers. When ENC lost its
support from the U.S. Department of Education last fall, it converted
to a subscription-based website where all of the great ENC materials
now reside. There are subscription plans for schools, districts, and
other education organizations. Best of all, there's a new individual
subscription for $29.95 a year. We're not in the habit of listing
resources that cost you money, but we know enough about the ENC
content to say that $30 a year is a bargain if you regularly search
for web-based math or science resources and teaching ideas. |
|
Electronic
Examples
|
From NCTM...online
lessons
|
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Everyday
Mathematics
|
Lesson plan ideas
(K-6) from teachers of the
Kent
school district, who use the
"Everyday Mathematics" program.
|
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Fractal
Lessons
|
for elementary and
middle school students
|
| GEM -- THE GATEWAY TO 21st CENTURY SKILLS |
evolved from the GEM project, an
effort by the US Department of Education to create a central database
or "catalog" of resources from federal, state, university, nonprofit,
and commercial sites. The revitalized Catalog, now supported by major
sponsors like the National Education Assocation, offers an easy way
to explore more than 50,000 educational resources, using a
sophisticated search engine similar to Google or Yahoo, but with one
big plus -- detailed, coherent descriptions. You'll find lesson
plans, reports, teaching tips, great thematic websites and plenty
more! Take a few minutes to learn how to search effectively, and
you'll have mastered a tool that you will return to again and again.
This link leads to a how-to page that will get you off to a quick
start. Note that the actual search tool is contained in a small box
in the upper right-hand corner of the page.
|
| Help
for new teachers |
lots of great advice |
|
Interactivate
|
SO COOL...All
Java-based courseware for exploration of topics in math and science
|
|
Internet
Projects that focus on math
|
The name says it
all.
|
|
Internet
Resources to improve the teaching of mathematics
|
From NCTM...lots of
stuff.
|
Kathy
Schrock's Guide to Educators
|
Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators is a categorized list of sites useful for enhancing curriculum and professional growth. It is updated often to include the best sites for teaching and learning. |
|
Math Hunts
|
cross curricula themes
|
|
Math
Printables and Lesson Plans
|
The name says it
all.
|
|
Math
Reference Handouts
|
The name says it
all.
|
|
Math
Student Handouts
|
Handounts and
Patterns for Manipulatives
|
|
MathTools
|
Lots of links with
ideas and interactive sites
|
|
Melting
Pot Math -
|
Multicultural Word
Problems
|
|
MiddleWeb:
Exploring Middle School Reform
|
MiddleWeb provides
a wealth of resources for schools, districts, educators, parents, and
public school advocates working to raise achievement for all students in
the middle grades.
In addition to MiddleWeb's large
collection of reform-oriented materials, this site includes hundreds of
articles and links about curriculum, teaching strategies, teacher
professional development, parent involvement, classroom assessment, and
much more.
|
| Millionaire |
Rules to
classroom version of the popular game show |
|
NCES
(National Center for Education Statistics)
|
NCES is the primary
federal entity for collecting and analyzing data that are related to
education in The United States and other nations.
|
| NYS
Education Department |
Important information for all NYS teachers, including
certification and standards. |
|
Online
Manipulatives
|
From NCTM...it
speaks for itself
|
|
Open
Ended Math Problems
|
from Franklin
Institute (gr 5-8...5 different strands for each month)
|
|
PBS
TeacherSource
|
Full units with
hands-on math activities
|
|
Plainedge
Professional Development
|
From the
Plainedge
School District
website, here are some downloadable
forms and useful links relating to professional development.
|
|
Project
Car Shopping
|
In this exercise,
you will use the Internet to find the price of a car you would like to
purchase, examine current interest rates, compute the cost of a car loan
for the different rates. How much will your car really cost?
How much can you save by shopping around for the best rate? How much
can you save if you pay off your car in less time.
|
|
Puzzle
Maker
|
Create
all kinds of puzzles
|
|
Puzzle
Maker#2
|
Another one
|
|
Rubistar
|
Rubric Maker
|
|
Rubric
Maker
|
Create your own
from scratch or clone someone else's
|
|
Scholastic.com
|
Scholastic.com,
"The Most Trusted Place in Cyberspace" has won numerous awards
including the prestigious Webby Award and People's Choice Award for the
Best Kids Site in 2000. With rich educational content and classroom-tested
online curriculum, Scholastic.com is revolutionizing the way teachers and
students integrate technology into the classroom and work together to
enhance learning.
|
|
Score-
Interactive Math Lessons by standard
|
lesson plans based
on NCTM standards
|
|
Stock
Market Game
|
FREE
REGISTRATION!!!
The
Stock Market Game gives students the chance to invest a hypothetical
$100,000 in a real-time portfolio.
They think they're playing a game.
You know they're learning economic and financial concepts they'll use for
the rest of their lives.
|
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Teacher
Assessment Forms
|
Many different
types
of assessments
|
|
Teacher
Web
|
Resource for
teachers to create their own class homepages
|
|
Test
Generator
|
Create and print
tests
|
|
Think
Quest
|
Organization that
promotes the development of educational web sites
|
|
Virtual
Geo-board
|
self-explanatory
|
