HALTED

Update: Here's another post to support this...the Feelings Wheel.

This one is seriously one of my favorite strategies to teach students of all ages (and adults).  It is a way to describe your emotional state when you are feeling less-than-perfect.  Since I am an adult, I use HALTED to dissect how I am feeling.  My husband will attest to the fact that I am not myself when I am feeling "H" - hungry.  I know I am not myself when I am feeling "T" - tired.  Since little O is young, I think of HALTED when she is acting out-of-sorts or experiencing a melt-down.  I run through the acronym in my mind to figure out what is driving her behavior and in doing so, I am able to better help her.

Ready to HALT yourself?

Are you feeling....

H - Hungry?
A - Angry?
L - Lonely?
T - Tired?
E - Embarrassed?
D - Disappointed?

Some days I think, HALTED-OS might also be helpful:

O - Overwhelmed?
S - Scared?

I would love to give credit to the student who taught me HALT a decade ago.  Since that time, my college students and I have added the ED and OS parts.

Do you have other tools that help humans express their emotions or at least recognize their emotional state?  Daniel Goleman has said the first part of emotional intelligence is self-awareness. 

With HALTED, we are on our way.

Jen

PS - I think little O might be ready to be formally taught the acronym.  The other morning she woke up incredibly cranky.  For at least five minutes she was giving me a hard time about nothing.  Then, I ran through the acronym in my mind and said, "Are you hungry?"  I didn't even need to get to the other letters because she agreed, she was hungry.  I ran to the kitchen, grabbed a string cheese, she devoured it and was a new person in minutes.  The rest of our morning was enjoyable.

PSS - Here's the link to the Feelings Wheel.

Poll Everywhere: Tech Tuesday

Last week, I made a pleasant comment about cell phone use (or non-use) in schools.  It seems, even in the 21st century, these little handheld, microcomputers filled with a zillion cool apps has no place in education.

Sigh.

Why not harness the power of cell phone use in your classroom for educational purposes?  Poll Everywhere might be a step in this direction.

Poll Everywhere is free (for up to 30 participants a poll) and oh-so-easy to set-up.  When you visit Poll Everywhere, you choose from three polling options:

1. Multiple choice - You ask a question and provide the answers for participants to choose from.
2. Free text poll - You pose a question and then participants can text in any answer they want.
3. Goal poll - Participants text in numbers and a visual thermometer shows how steadily your group is reaching their goal (I have not found a use for this type of poll in my classes, yet).  Maybe to track how many candles your class has sold for fundraising?

My favorite option is the multiple choice poll because I can preset the responses.  Let's play with it below.  I have enabled multiple ways to respond to this poll (just in case some of you don't have a cell phone). 

• To text in your answer, text a code to the phone number 22333 (yes, I know....this phone number only has five digits). 
• To tweet your answer, tweet to @ poll + a code 
• To use a computer, go to http://poll4.com/ and input your code.  The question and codes are down below.

Answer this question:  Which genre of blog posts on Upcycled Education is your favorite? 

Answer choices - Only submit the numerical portion of the code:

179062:  Tech Tuesdays (where I highlight interested web-based tools)

179063:  Bonus Wednesdays (these posts usually contain teaching strategies and ideas)

179064:  Theories on Thursday (where I highlight and explain a theory or concept)

Go text in (or tweet or use your computer) to submit your answer.  Remember, you are only submitting the numerical code - not letters or words.  Since this poll can only accommodate 30 users, if you try and submit your response and it doesn't let you, we've probably hit our max.

Play with Poll Everywhere yourself.  Some of you might also want to try Wiffiti - it is another free, cell phone polling tool that is popular at concerts and nightclubs I've been told by my college students. 

I'm a Poll Everywhere gal, myself.

Best,

Jen

FISH Philosophy for Theories on Thursday

Have you ever been to Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle, WA?  If you are mature older like me, you might remember the fish market from the Levi's commercial in the early 1990s - A bunch of (cute) fishmonger guys wearing Levi jeans, throwing fish to be weighed as customers ordered them?  Ring any bells?

Well, it does for me.  In fact, when I was at Pike Place in the 90s, I felt compelled to watch the fish market/entertainment for almost an hour.  Evidently, I had a sixth sense seeing those Levi-wearing mongers in action would one day prove useful for blogging.

Years later, a FISH philosophy was documented using the organized fish market mayhem.  Though some ex-employees from Pike Place say the philosophy is...smelly....many businesses and schools have adopted the FISH philosophy and its four tenets as everyday practice.  See what you think?  Could your classroom adopt these tenets?  For parents and assorted others, could your family or business?

Tenet #1:  Be there.  Focus on your students and what is going on in the classroom; not all the things you have to do when you get out of work that evening.  Ask students to do the same.  This creates mindfulness and encourages being in the present moment.

Tenet #2:  Play.  Teaching and learning is more fun when educators and students are having fun.  How can you encourage play in your classroom and still balance tackling your daily learning objectives? 

Tenet #3:  Make Their Day.  Little acts of kindness can go a long way.  How can you show students they are valued in your classroom and welcomed there?  Can you make their day collectively or individually?  I've been known to go down my roster and make a different student's day each day.  It does take a splash of creativity and effort to pull this off sucessfully.

Tenet #4:  Choose Your Attitude.  Life, as we know, has its ups and downs. The attitude we choose to get through those ups and downs is what makes good folks great.  Which attitude will you choose today?  How about your students?  My friend, D, writes down on a sticky note a word describing the attitude she chooses for that day.  That way, if she needs a reminder, it is visually there for her.

The FISH philosophy and organization has many resources for you to learn more and make your FISHing most meaningful.  I highly recommend their books - Fish, Fish Sticks and Fish Tales - to name a few.  If you click on the bookmark above, you can download a whole page of bookmarks; a great reminder of the four tenets.

Off to make little O's day,

Jen

(Deluxe) Reflection Tools

Most teachers and educational theorists agree - "real" learning involves reflection.  Thus, save a bit of time after a lesson to provide ample time for students to reflect - five or more minutes is ideal - depending on the complexity and familiarity with the topic.


(From Leo Reynolds Flickr Stream; Photoshopped by Jen)

Here are some easy-peasy reflection tools; I've gathered these over the years from other educators, conferences, and workshops, thus no citations are included:


Symbols – Using playdoh, pipe cleaners, and/or art materials, have students create a symbol representing what they learned that day.  My favorites are the giant piper cleaners – look for them at craft stores near you.

Weather, Geography or Landscape Report – Ask students to connect what they learned in class that day to a weather pattern, geographic location or type of landscape.  For example, a student might say, “The story of Romeo and Juliet to me is like a partly sunny day with severe thunderstorms in the afternoon.  The sunny part of the day is when Romeo and Juliet meet.  The thunderstorm happened when Juliet died.”

Switch-off - Create a thoughtful, open-ended, higher-order thinking question for students (you should be thinking of Bloom's Taxonomy right now, yes?).  Allow students time to reflect and write their answer.  Then, have students switch papers with a classmate and react to what their classmate wrote.  Do these switch offs as many times as you see fit.

Headlines – have students generate a newspaper headline to represent what they learned in class that day.  Also, use this activity to assess students’ energy levels, emotional states, connections to material, etc. 

Thermometer of Learning – This one takes the least amount of time.  Post temperatures on the wall by the door.  Ask students to touch the temperature that represents how much they learned that day. 

Photographs – Ask students to reflect on the lesson that day.  What stands out in their minds?  Now, ask students to take a photograph (in their mind) of that part of the lesson.  What does it look like?  Who was doing what?  What was their role in the photo?  This might be a fun one to recreate with cell phone cameras.  Oh, does your school still ban cell phones used educationally?


If you missed the tweet exit ticket from last week, click here.  It, too, encourages reflection.


Best,
Jen

Animoto: Tech Tuesday

Why have I waited so long to share this fantastic, free web-based tool?  This one is a crowd pleaser with students (and grandparents alike - believe me, you can make personal videos, too).  Who doesn't like a well-paced, photo-laden, music-toting video? 

Case in point, check out the video below I made especially for you.  I chose photos from Animoto's photo library (though, you could upload your own), added a handful of text slides, chose a snappy song (Animoto has many to choose from though you could upload your own favorite) and clicked "done."  Animoto mixed it and did all the rest while I folded laundry - yes, the life of a blogger and mom.....

One of my graduate students who I virtually adore, Anamika, created this Animoto video for her middle school science classes.  Click on the image below to learn about physical changes, Animoto-Anamika-style.

Anyone can join Animoto for free and make 30-second videos.  However, educators can apply for a free educator's license and make unlimited, full-length videos - which is my favorite (and Anamika's) as we like our videos longer.  The educator's license is good for up to 50 people (students and the teacher) and lasts for six months.

BUT, I have a gift for you, ready?  Animoto sent me my educator's license.  If you want to be one of my fifty people, use the following code when you sign-up for Animoto "Plus."  The code is:
a4elara2fb082; be sure to select the "Plus" plan.  All students, educators, parents, grandparents, non-profit types and assorted others are welcome to be part of my fifty.

Remember I said you could make personal videos, too?  This one, last Mother's Day, was a real tear-jerker.  It stars my whole family including little O and P.  I uploaded the photos, added a few text slides, chose the heart-wrenching song and the "winding vines" background - Animoto did all the rest.  My family now thinks I'm a rock star.  My mom said this confirms I'm a rock star.

Go Animoto it up,

Jen