Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with classroom

What education-themed webapp should I build?

primer_dimer — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:19:28 -0800

What education-themed webapp should I build? I need to build a webapp as part of learning a new programming language and it would be nice if the end product was useful to someone. A few of my friends who are teachers have suggested that I do something that would be helpful for teachers - like a wordsearch generator, etc. I know we have a few teachers here on MeFi - does anyone have any suggestions? Any tedious tasks that could be made easier?

Part of the reason I'm asking here is that I suspect traditional classroom activities vary greatly from country to country. For instance I recently found out that bingo games are popular classroom activities in the USA, which I never would have guessed - in the UK, bingo is strongly associated with old women and gambling, and it would be very odd to find it in the classroom. So please give your suggestions even if you think they're obvious.

Quotes for a science classroom wall

alby — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:11:09 -0800

I'm looking for good quotations about science (particularly physics) and education that are suitable for the wall of a secondary school (ages 11-18) classroom. As examples, these are quotes I've already used:
"The two most common elements in the Universe are hydrogen and stupidity." - Harlan Ellison
"Physics is like sex. Sure it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it" - Richard Feynman
"The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." - Alvin Toffler

How can I control an out-of-control classroom?

GilloD — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 21:01:22 -0800

Controlling classroom behavior: Theory/practice? More inside! So, my wife and I made it to South Korea safe and sound. We're having a killer time! The only problem is, uh, the job we came here to do. A classic story: Teaching English in Korea turns out to be more like Keep Busy in English. For younger kids I've been able to manage with a combination of Powerpoints and lesson-focused activities to keep them occupied, if not entirely attentive.

Older kids (5th/6th grade) are a nightmare. They get up and run around, they throw things, they howl in Korean and no amount of my desperate English pleadings can seem to bring them around.

My 5th grade co-teacher doesn't even show up to class most of time. My 6th grade teacher is MUCH better, but she's reallly discouraged by what's going on and is taking an enormous personal stake in their behavior.

Teachers of the world: What's your advice? Based on previous hive-mind suggestion, I proposed an incentive system. The biggest problem to me seems to be that one or two especially coy troublemakers can ruin the whole class. By focusing on the behavior of the whole class (I have about 300 students per grade, nearly a 1000 in total, so per-student evaluation is not really doable), we can hopefully mitigate those troublemakers by providing an incentive to ignore their tricks.

Does that make sense? Does anyone have further advice on implementing an executing incentive systems? Is an incentive system the wrong way to go on this?

Can you help me bring a student in line?

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:37:06 -0800

How do I discipline a student that doesn't care about detention? Hi there,

I have a student who for whatever reason has very recently gotten a serious case of silliness/defiance. What concerns me is that when he is kept in for detention he finds the whole thing to be a big joke and giggles constantly. Even within detention he is defiant by getting up and walking around, etc. Clearly, he would be a candidate for a suspension or office referral, but for various reasons I'd like to avoid that route for the time being if possible. Obviously I've spoken with his parents.

I would like to reel him in mainly because normally he works pretty well, but also because he is capable of distracting the whole class. I worry that he's actually trying to see if he can get sent to the office for some reason. At the same time, it could be a physiological thing (13–14 years old) or a genuine desire to get under my skin. The last option seems very bizarre as up until this point in the year I've had a great rapport with him in class.

To be specific, I don't think that he gets the teacher – student distinction very well (almost all students when spoken to one on one have enough respect to discuss the issue if they are spoken to politely and openly – with him he just laughs right in my face).

So, any suggestions on other things I can do to get him to be respectful again? His parents have agreed to have him do extra homework, but I'm keen to know if there are other ideas. I really don't think detention is the right fit for him and besides which, I have to supervise it and if he's giggling the whole time it'll really undermine the authority. The other thing I've done is isolate him from the class and have him do his work individually for the time being.

Thanks for any suggestions!

What were those Hoffy papers?

rikschell — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:00:46 -0800

Does anyone remember Hoffy papers? Obscure elementary-school learning machine memory (pre-1980 edition) ... When I was in the primary grades, we would sometimes go to a special room and do worksheets using a special machine that I remember very little about. This was in the late 70s, in the midwest USA, at a Catholic school, so the machine was likely old already. The worksheets were standard color and shape matching stuff, Kindergarten or 1st grade, and they featured a furry monster who looked like Grover from Sesame Street (except I think he was red), and his name was Hoffy. I'd bet it was linked with some company with a Hoffman name, but that's only a guess. Google does nothing for me, but the worksheets were printed, not dittoes, so it couldn't have been just me!

Help me illustrate Positive Behavior Support with example from cinema or television

dchrssyr — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:23:00 -0800

Help me find movie clips to illustrate concepts of Positive Behavior Support, such as empathy, assertive communication, and avoiding or otherwise resolving power struggles. Other Positive Behavior Support or Behavior Modification Strategies concepts illustrations from popular movies also welcome. I regularly teach a 16 hour, 2 day workshop for foster parents and caregivers about Positive Behavior Support for behaviorally challenged children and adults with Developmental Disabilities. The class is primarily power point (it's a state certification class, so I must use the approved power point each time), lecture, class exercises and discussion. It's fun class but I'd like to spice the lectures up with movie clips which illustrate certain points.

I currently use a couple of movie clips to illustrate points and supplement the class exercises. I use the water tower scene from "What's Eating Gilbert Grape," and the scene in "A Christmas Story" where Ralphie beats up the bully. We discuss these scenes as crisis behavioral incidents and we diagram the behaviors of the main characters, identifying triggers for the behavior, setting events and environmental factors which contribute to the behaviors , and appropriate responses the the behaviors. I find that my workshop participants respond really well to these exercises.

I'd like to incorporate a couple more movie (or television) clips during the class lectures. Some points I am particularly interested in illustrating are: Using Empathy, Resolving or Avoiding Power Struggles, and Assertive (versus Passive or Aggressive) Communication. I would like clips that illustrate the "right" and "wrong" ways to handle certain situations so that the class can compare and contrast the scenes.

If you are familiar with Behavior Modifciation and Positive Behavior Support, and you have other ideas regarding concepts which might be well illustrated by cinema, please contribute.

Please don't just suggest movie titles. I am fully aware of almost every movie in which the main character is a person with Disabilities. I dislike most of these movies because they do not give an accurate or realistic picture. For instance, please do not suggest: Radio, The Other Sister, or I Am Sam. I disagree with the way people with disablities are presented in each of these movies and I am unlikely use them as class material. Other than that specific limitation, I am open to movies of all genres: Animation, Comedy, Dramas, Musicals, almost anything.

Thanks in advance. I think this will be a good hive mind project and I'm really looking forward to your suggestions.

Action Research Video Footage?

yellowcandy — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 10:14:07 -0800

Designing an action research class for teachers and need lots and lots of footage of real classroom activity. Here is what I would love, in a perfect world: 5-40 hours of raw, digitized video footage of classroom activity. Longer is better, in order to give users a chance to select a sample set of classes/sessions from the data. Bonus points if it's all the same classroom and/or students, shot over several days or weeks. What happens in the classroom doesn't have to be particularly good or bad--the footage will be used as the raw dataset for a graduate course, so the grad students will be choosing their research focus and deciding what to do with the digitized video.

We can't film this ourselves, as videotaping minors comes along with a whole host of legal and IRB issues that we do not have the time to sort through on our own. What we're looking for is a free or proprietary dataset of digitized footage that we can use without having to worry about clearances, etc. Since this will become a text (of sorts) for a course, we are willing to pay a vendor for this, if we can find someone who sells this sort of thing. If it's free, great. If not, that's OK too.

Laptop and projector need to play together nicely.

wile e — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:02:33 -0800

Managing a projector with a laptop at a different resolution. The short: classroom training sessions with a Dell laptop hooked up to a projector is giving me some issues, looking for advice on how to rectify the situation. Windows Vista Ultimate
Dell Vostro 1400 w/ embedded Intel video card (temporary, my Nvidia motherboard blew up, long story)
2gig Ram
2.0ghz Core 2 duo
VGA output

Half of my time is spent in a classroom training on how to use a particular software. The classroom changes weekly, so cannot give specs on the projector, but all are generic classroom projectors that take a VGA input on them.

When I hook up my laptop to the projector, it takes me out of my 1440x900 default resolution, and kicks me back to 800x600. If I try to change it back to 1440x900 it refuses as the projector cannot handle the resolution, even if I have it set up to not share my desktop. I can get it to work with 1280x768, but since this is not my default resolution, it annoys me to screw up all my settings on my laptop during the session.

So my question is this: Is there a way to better manage all of this, since I spend most of my time dealing with this? Are there programs to aid in this? I have briefly looked into Displayfusion and Ultramon, but they seem to be more aimed at permanent multi monitor setups. Whereas my situation tends to only be during 9-5 every other week or so.

It just seems the management utility that is in my laptop now cannot be the best thing. I would like to have some real control over what happens, not just resolution if possible. Like I would like to share certain windows on my screen with the projector, but not all.

Well anyway, if anybody has some insight into this, I would appreciate the help.

I will be checking this throughout the day, so any info I left out, feel free to ask and I will supply the answer if I have it.

Where can I find the clip of Andy Hurley on Cable in the Classroom?

thebrokenmuse — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:13:39 -0800

Where can I find the clip of Andy Hurley on the safe sex Cable in the Classroom speical on MTV last night? I don't know what it was called but he, along with members of Liz Phair, OK GO and other random people on the street were talking about safe sex and sex myths. I can't find it anywhere, my google-fu is failing me.

In the clip, he said that he heard that "pulling out was kind of effective."

I can't explain why I need this, but its urgent. Ha.

Make my office supplies last longer.

HotPatatta — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 08:04:00 -0800

How can I stretch office/classroom supplies? Where can I order cheap office supplies? Any hacks to avoid buying the real stuff (e.g., instead of buying glue, mix flour and water together)? My school gave me a classroom with no supplies. No paper, no pencils, no crayons, no books, no anything. Nada. My students come from impoverished homes and their parents can't afford school supplies, meaning I have to provide school supplies for 24 kids. Your suggestions, please.

Want to go back to school for photography

Thrillhouse — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:09:20 -0800

Where can I take a classroom photography course in Merrimack Valley (MA) or southern NH? I love photography. I have some good equipment. I would like to become a great photographer but I'm not a big fan of online learning or the book learnin'.

I've checked Northern Essex Community College but it looks like all they offer is basket weaving, interpretive dance, and what appears to be an ultra basic class on how to turn on your digital camera.

I'd like something a little more involved with multiple sessions and the goal to be a much better photographer.

I'd also prefer not to drive 45 minutes to get to a class. Does anybody knows of anything around here?

Any other thoughts?

Thanks!

What charity project shall I support?

badmoonrising — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:33:42 -0800

I'd like to donate a sum of money to a charity project, preferably an educational one, but I need some advice on which one to choose. This is a little long and rambly, so bear with me!

It's my 21st birthday very soon. My father has been hounding me for present ideas, and since I can't think of anything for myself I've come up with the idea of contributing to a charity project. I'm interested in education and am thinking of becoming a teacher, so I rather like the idea of building or equipping a classroom.

My preferred area would be South America, particularly Ecuador, since I spent some time volunteering there. This is negotiable, though.

The prices I've seen online for building classrooms range from £1700 to around £15,000. I don't know how much my dad is willing to spend (and it seems a little indelicate to directly ask him), but he is an exceedingly generous man and he originally suggested buying me an expensive new laptop, or paying for a holiday, so I think something in the high hundreds to low thousands would be OK with him. I'd rather err on the cautious side, though. My plan is to give him a few options (from, say, £500 to £3000) and let him decide which is closest to the amount he wishes to spend.

I know that the easiest option would be to simply donate a sum of money to be used at the charity's disposal, but I'd rather like the money to be used for one specific project. Also, most of the 'Oxfam Unwrapped" style giftshops seem very uninformative - they send you a greetings card and a certificate, in case you are making the donation on behalf of someone else. I know that personal gratification is hardly the point, but if I'm giving up a new laptop or a holiday then I would like more than a generic certificate. (Yes, I'm aware that probably makes me sound awful, but I don't care.) Something along the lines of some photos of the completed project, and maybe a very short report, would be lovely. Is this realistic, or is this kind of feedback only likely with much larger donations?

I've seen some rather suspicious websites, so I'd like to be completely certain that the charity I choose is legit and will actually use my money for the intended purpose.

I'd prefer a non-religious charity if possible, but I don't mind too much.

So. Does anyone on MeFi have any experience of this sort of thing and can offer any advice? Or does anyone have any suggestions of charities or projects? Many thanks in advance.

(In case anyone asks, Dad's absolutely fine with this - in fact he seems delighted with the idea. Also, in case anyone missed the references to pounds, I'm in the UK, but I don't mind donating to any nationality charity as long as it's above board.)

Your favorite routines from elementary school?

HotPatatta — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:13:02 -0800

When you or your kids were in elementary school, what were some of the daily/weekly routines or activities you or your children enjoyed and/or appreciated most? I'll be teaching second grade and I need some new ideas.

Help me, in the naaaaame of love!

GrooveStix — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:40:19 -0800

Help me find a video/article about a race experiment. I swear I watched this video on Youtube, but for the life of me I can't find it. It was about students in a racially diverse classroom that were encouraged to pick classmates that were presumably their most similar match - genetically. Then they (possibly) did a DNA analysis and it turned out that they were all wrong, because all kids chose their similar classmate on a basis on their skin color.

Does anyone know about this, or am I hallucinating about me watching it?

Software recommendations for Classroom Computer Management

meta87 — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:22:24 -0800

Looking for software recommendations for classroom computer management. The company I work for is setting up a small training room, around 6 six computers, and we want to be able to display any of the screens on a projector, give control of the computer to the teacher, etc... The few applications I see online are thousands of dollars which is out of our price range. We would like to spend less than $500 if possible. I'm more than willing to get creative if necessary. I am in IT and comfortable with linux or any other ideas.

I was thinking that several VNC instances of the student computers running on the teacher's computer might work, but I don't know how stable this would be in practice. We do have a gigabit network so maybe that would work.

Thanks!

What is the "X factor" when it comes to classroom management?

jacobean — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 09:40:47 -0800

What is the "X factor" when it comes to classroom management? When it comes to managing a group of high-schoolers what is the personality trait that makes some teachers have more control of their classroom than others? When I was in high school, some teachers had complete control the minute they walked into the classroom whilst other teachers would walk in and the class that would erupt into laughter, talking and just general giddyness.

I have never quite figured out which personality triat in teachers dictates this sort of behaviour.

It seems to have nothing to do with verbal threats, how inspirational the teacher is or the subject matter being taught - there seems to be some other factor at play here - that I've never been able to work out. So what is this "x-factor"?

Don't Smile 'Til Christmas

AmbroseChapel — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:05:20 -0800

I'm going to be teaching less-than-enthusiastic students; help me keep their respect and attention. I'm not a trained teacher, but do quite a bit of in-house corporate training.

The attendees are usually

quite cheerful because they're having a couple of days off work;
quite motivated because they need the training to help them do their work/advance their careers;
in their twenties or thirties.

Also the courses are short.

My teaching style in these sessions is to be funny and light and hopefully entertaining. I worry that I'm turning into the guy from The Office sometimes, except the training really is useful and I really do know my stuff.

But I have an occasional job teaching evening classes to graphic design students where everything is reversed:

less cheerful because it's at the end of the day;
less motivated because it's a mandatory, non-graphic class in a subject they find dull;
mostly just out of high school.

The classes go a whole term.

Last time round my chatty, jokey teaching style wasn't much good. They basically didn't respect me much and didn't take the class very seriously.

What should I do to make sure I have a style appropriate to the situation? It's not that different to teaching high school, as far as I can see.

British teachers (whose school year starts in September) have a saying: "don't smile 'til Christmas". Apart from just being very formal and serious, what do I do to keep their respect and attention?

Does Pitt hold classes in the Nationality Classrooms?

media_itoku — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 15:35:54 -0800

Are classes actually run in the "Nationality Classrooms" at the University of Pittsburgh? If so, has anyone here had a class in one, and what was it like? I'm interested in acoustics, distraction, etc. -- i.e. things you'd think of as a classroom designer or a teacher.

Crowd Control to prevent "Mob Rule"

Alabaster — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 03:10:42 -0800

Crowd control techniques for hundreds of unruly people (teenagers in this case)? More inside... Looking for tried-and-true techniques for keeping a cafeteria full of unruly high schoolers in (reasonable) order. Not all BAD kids, but kids who generally weren't raised to have much respect for authority and have no qualms about flipping off a cop, let alone a teacher.

Fights and food fights break out fairly often (or almost break out--we can usually quell it in time but this is not always possible). Enforcing discipline (detentions, etc.) is difficult because we don't know all of their names and don't always have time call in someone who does. It's a typical overcrowded school and a kid can easily "disappear" into the crowd before you can identify him.

My classroom management techniques are pretty strong, but it's different when there are hundreds of them and you don't know most of their names (yet. I'm working on it).

Any suggestions from people (teachers, law enforcement, military, cult leaders, people familiar with crowd psychology, whatever) who have tried-and-true ideas on how 4-5 people can motivate a few hundred to keep relative order?

I'm not looking for military ranks here--kids will be kids after all, and the students here are quick to rebel against iron-fists. Students here respond best to teachers they like, respect, and trust, so the firm-but-positive approach tends to be better than the authoritarian approach (which usually leads to a very bad us vs. them situation). I'm mainly just looking prevent or quell the disruptions that can invoke "mob rule."

P.S. I'm also looking for general ways of dealing with individuals who respond disrespectfully or ignore our instructions because they know we can't enforce any discipline until we know their names (I have been known to follow a kid down the hall to his next class or break out last year's yearbook to find out his name, but this is not always possible when there are several of them or their faces are not particularly memorable).

Ideas?

Yoko, please be A, Hironari, please be B, Miki A, Tomoko B...

greasepig — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 07:58:59 -0800

How do I quickly rearrange classes of 7-12 students? I'm an English teacher in Japan, and some of my classes are group lessons where I need to be sure to pair up each student with as many of the other students during class, through all the different activities. I can easily do this with 1-6 students, e.g. 1st time 1-2, 3-4, 5-6. Second time 1-3, 2-5, 4-6, and so on in my head. But for some reason, when I get 7 or more students, after the second iteration, I get all messed up and it takes me a minute or two to figure out what the next pairing should be, and I end up eating up valuable time in my 50-minute lesson. I should note that these students are all adults, so pairing up any arbitrary pair is easy, I don't need to worry about personality conflicts or anything. I'm an engineer, and very comfortable with math, so it kind of bothers me that I even have to struggle with this. Are there any teachers out there who use some simple system for doing this? I have a feeling that some teachers out there have some nifty little trick that makes these decisions mindless.

Movie with good d-day sequences

allthewhile — Sun, 20 May 2007 09:35:08 -0800

I need a movie or documentary that has good visual shots of the D-Day invasion to show in my 7th grade classroom. PG-13 necessary I know there are great sequences in the movie Saving Private Ryan, but obviously the gore is a little too much for the classroom.

The kids love the action of a movie like Saving Private Ryan, but I would like something a little toned down, violence wise.

Best Collaborative Content Management Software

billtron — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 08:25:14 -0800

I am about to create a website for a university class on collaborative ethnographies. What software would suit my needs best? Right now, ExpressionEngine and Drupal 5 are my top two choices. If I am barking up the wrong tree, please let me know. Our project requires some combination of the following:

1) some sort of blog-like space where groups can post their ethnographic reports. Inspirations include Politics of Food and How Stuff Is Made, but we are looking for a more flexible, css based layout.

2) a forum, in which students can discuss their projects and issues relevant to the class.

3) Clean, user-friendly photo, sound, and video repositories where visitors can browse the work of the students.

4) Contributory permissions for all students, to upload media, write reports, add comments to postings, etc. At this point, all student accounts and permissions can be set by an administrator. Accounts should work for all areas, including content, media repositories, and the forum. Email capability is a bonus.

2) Eventually we might expand the project to include non-students as contributors. For the administrators' sake, some sort of automated account registration would be nice, with a public permissions type that is more limited than what the students have.

Hopefully This Stays In The Realm Of Theory

absalom — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 19:03:47 -0800

If someone walks into my classroom (filled with students) wielding a gun, what should I do? I have recieved no training or input in this area, and while I cannot imagine it ever happening at my school, if it ever does happen, I'd like to make sure myself and my children see the event through safely.

Teaching US government in high school

carter — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 08:08:18 -0800

I'm looking for cheap/free visual aids (posters, photos, etc.) to support a high school teacher who is teaching US government. Thanks! Said teacher has acquired a new classroom and would like to decorate the walls with posters and pictures relevant to the teaching of the history of the US government - such as the founding fathers, the constitution, the three branches (Congress, White House, Supreme Court), and so on. There's stuff out there, but much of it seems seems pricey - are there sources (such as educational foundations for example) who distribute these items for low cost or for free?

What are some positive hip hop songs to play for my 7th and 8th graders?

allthewhile — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 22:23:13 -0800

Hip Hop Mix CD Filter - What are some positive/inspirational hip hop songs to play in my 7th and 8th grade classroom? Urban Chicago Kids so please nothing "lame". It doesn't necessarily have to be something they've heard before or even something popular. I just want some authentic hip hop with a positive message that I can play in my classroom. Something along the lines of Nas' "I Can" is what I'm looking for in terms of message.

I can edit out vulgarity but it would be easier just to have songs that are "radio edits".