Free Choice Blog, Week 3, The Importance of a Good First Day of School

Free Choice Blog

                                                   Photo By Rick Stemple

The Importance of a Good First Day of School

The first day of school is very important for teacher as well as their students, it sets the tone sometimes for the week to come and sometimes the entire school year. With everyone getting ready for school I thought it would be great to talk about, what is your favorite “first day” activity?  Here’s some activities that I have done or have borrowed from other teachers that have been fun for the first day and sometimes continue to use as an icebreaker or as an introduction activity for my classes for the following weeks. For my kindergarten classes I would sometimes have the students learn the song “If your name is (insert name) stand up straight, and take a bow.” Every student gets to hear their name some other class and get to have a cool motion which is sometimes a great way to loosen up pre-K and kindergarten students are very nervous on the first day of school.  Kindergarten through second grade could also use the song “That’s a Mighty Pretty Motion” which older students can sing their name and create their own motions.

For my middle school students I would usually do a name game.  There are many variations of this game that can be used, which usually depends on the class. 

Variation #1:  This game is recommended for grades two through four. Students say their full name and their favorite fruit. Then they have to say their name and their favorite fruit in order as fast as they can and time them. You will need to have a stopwatch for this game. This not only gets students to learn each other’s names but is also a teambuilding exercise. The students have to find a way to beat the top score of 30 seconds. Hint: the directions said in order it didn’t say they could not say their names and fruit all the same time but do not tell them that, let the students figure it out for themselves. If they cannot figure it out the first class, let them try it the next time you meet.

Variation #2:  You also need a stopwatch and a soft Nerf like ball for this variation. I recommend  using this game for grades five through six.  Students should stand up and push their desks aside so they can sit in a circle. The directions are simple say your name and your favorite fruit and pass the ball, but remember the name and the fruit of the person you pass the ball to. They can passs the ball to anyone they want. You may want everyone to stand in as they pass the ball to someone they can sit down. That way they know who they can pass to next. The next round you have to only say the persons name and fruit you pass the ball to before you pass the ball to them.  If they forget who they pass to or the name of the person they can ask the class or that person, remember this is also a teambuilding exercise. Remember to time them each time they go through the entire class and remind them they should be getting faster and faster. Once they’ve tried several times you can remind them that the record is 40 seconds and that their only directions was to pass the ball, say the name and the fruit of the person they’re passing the ball to, and pass the ball in same order. Hint; students can arrange their order so it’s easier to pass the ball, or they can put the ball in the middle and touch it in order while saying each other’s name and fruit. Do not under any circumstances give them the hints. Just remind them of the rules or of the record and let them figure out their own solutions. It is always amazing to watch students group dynamic development and see your class work as a team for a common goal. There is no correct answer to this game however there are many variations. For teachers that have done this name game in the past try it with all the students sitting on the floor saying the name of their peer and peers favor fruit while passing the ball with their feet.

Variation #3: Create a bingo chart with questions in each square about students summer or about students. The students then have to go around the classroom and get signatures in each box to get bingo. The game is recommended for students in seventh and eighth grade. Students can only sign their name once and they cannot sign their own bingo card. This is a great way to get students out of their seats and to get to know each other a little better. Here are some sample questions you can use in the bingo card;

Someone who went to the beach.

Someone who visited another country.

Someone who visited another state.

Someone who has brown eyes. 

Someone who has green eyes.

Someone who has blue eyes.

Someone who is rode on a boat.

Someone who it  flown on a plane.

My favorite the free space.

Someone was seen a live concert.

Someone who is wearing green.

Someone who has or had braces.

Someone who has a pet.

Etc.etc

 Please share any first-day activities that you may have. Have a great school year.

Response to Cheryl's Week 3 Reading

Cheryl Post

Well, week 3 and it is chapters 5-8.  There were many tidbits that I picked up from this reading of "The Art of Possibility".  I will share my favorites with you.  The first major ah ha moment for me came when the author told about getting in the taxi and the passenger tells the driver to hurry! They need me everywhere!!!! This is so true in life.  As a mother or father, you are needed everywhere all of the time! You wish you could grow 8 arms and 8 legs.  As a teacher it seems that every student needs help at the same time on a different problem.  The next one that struck me was that power is the ability to make other people powerful.  This thought we have heard before, but maybe not in this way.  We may have heard it as give a man something to eat and he eats right then, teach him to grow his own food and he will be forever full.  Here is another: grab what you love and give it everything.  So often we tend to meander through life, giving what we feel comfortable giving, but to give it everything possible leaves the possibilities completely open!  As I continued to move through the reading I came to a spot where the author asks us to think about putting Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" before every remark we make.  Can you imagine? The last chapter was all about letting go.  That is where this week's picture came from.  We have to jump without worrying about every little thing to reach the highest and furthest that we can.  I think of the movie "The Great Outdoors".  We often forget that very simple command to let go.  John Candy is water skiing and after giving his son lessons on safety and letting go of the rope if you get into a situation, he totally forgets this himself and his son is screaming for him to let go of the rope but he doesn't.  I hope all of us this week can let go of our ropes and travel further and accomplish more than we or anyone else could ever expect! Have a great week! Cheryl

                                             Nealon Stemple excited about catching a "stick fish" Rick Stemple not so happy

                                             Photo by Shannon Stemple

Ricks Response

 Great blog, you are right there are so many tidbits it is hard to pick just one. I love how you talk about teaching in reference to the taxi quote “ I need to be everywhere”. Teachers and parents need to be everywhere at the same time. My class and my boys are constantly making requests and my wife and I sometimes respond with “ I am not an octopus,” or “ patience is a virtue,” only to follow-up with my favorite kindergarten quote “ you get what you get and you don’t regret.”

I have not heard the grow food quote before, however it does work. I have always heard the saying “ give a man a fish he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for life.” I liked the idea about adding “I have a dream” before every remark we make however that part of the book sounded a little fortune cookie-ish to me. Let me elaborate, in college when you opened it fortune cookie you would always add the phrase “in bed” after the fortune to make it sound more interesting.

 I love the movie The Great Outdoors, and I wholeheartedly agree, I cannot wait to let go of the rope. I hope we could all meet at graduation, good luck.

Comments for Marcos, Week 3 Free Choice: Being a teacher

Week 3 Free Choice: Being a teacher

Marcos Post

After being out of a job for a little over six years due to illness I recently started working again. Last Tuesday I began working as a sixth grade teacher in a private school here in Puerto Rico. This is my first experience as a teacher so I am learning as I go. Lesson number one is that the hours are very long. This is no regular 9 to 5 where you clock in and out and that’s the end of the workday. Here you have to take work home with you. Lesson number two is that patience is a virtue. Kids will try to see what they can get away with and keep pushing until they realize what they can and cannot get away with. Lesson number three is that rest is a luxury. The hours are very long and the rest is very short. After all, once you get out of school you have to start preparing for the next day. The reason why being a teacher is not a job most people would even consider is because it is not a mere job; it is a vocation. It is something you do because you love it.

Picture by Thomas Barwick

Obtained at http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/sb10066020k-001/Digital-Vision

                                                                                Don't feel  overwhelmed like Nealon Stemple in the snow.

                                                                                Photo By Rick Stemple 

Ricks Response

Congratulations my friend on your new job. You are absolutely right teaching is not a job it is a vocation, a calling if you will, and you’re right, you have to love it.  As time goes by your find teaching easier and easier, because you will have that experience behind you and you will have lesson plans that work and you know the ones that don’t work. Middle school is tough, don’t let anybody else tell you otherwise. However, it can also be the most rewarding, the students really want to learn but they also want to be more independent. The only advice I can give that is worked over the years in high school and middle school is the same advice a college professor gave me many years ago, is “make them believe they came up with the ideas all on their own, and you were just a guide or a helper” for example in my case many students would always come to me and tell me about a cool new program that discovered on the Mac like GarageBand, or iMovie. I would answer “ Wow, that’s interesting, tell me more about it, let’s talk more about it in class.” I would also suggest large thematic units that take a month to complete. Good luck and congratulations. 

Blog Art of Possibility Chapter 5-8, Week 3

Blog Art of Possibility Chapter 5-8

I have thoroughly enjoyed the book “Art of Possibility” by Roz and Ben Zander. I would like to discuss chapters five through eight,but I'll mostly talk about chapters five and six because they were my favorite. There is a great story in chapter 5 about American orchestra going to play with a Cuban orchestra in Cuba. I have not only had personal experience with teaching music from other cultures to students, but have also performed in choruses that have had difficulty learning complex ethnic rhythms. I love that the conductor told the orchestra players/students “Your job is to teach these rhythms to your stand partner.” This not only made the students responsible for teaching the music but also made the students responsible for whether they would perform the concert or not. This usually becomes a great learning experience for everyone involved.

I of course love music, and the music section in this book brings back so many memories for me. I have many fond memories of sitting in the dorms at the Conservatory or in the practice rooms listening to the various instrument players complain about who got first chair or second chair and how they are better player than all of them. All I can think of was how lucky they were to play in the orchestra because I would only play in chamber music. Does it really matter where you sit because the audience really only hears each section, strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion not first chair, second chair, third chair. I wish I could read them this quote from a youth orchestra student to the classically trained conservatory musician. “… I have the force of personality to power the section from where ever I sit and I believe that I led that concert from the 11th chair”

                                      Noah, Nate, and Nealon Stemple ( N3) Rocking on Guitar Hero 
                                                    Photo By Richard Stemple


I currently play in a rock band, but over the years I have sung in chorus, played in chamber music ensembles, and it played in various types of musical groups. When you play with any group long enough not only know the music, you begin to know how each musician plays their part. I am always more impressed with the group or performance when someone does forget a part or has a memory lapse how the rest of the group or performers react and continue with the show. Great performers go on with the show, good performers will stop and do it again or fumble for while, bad performers just quit. Really great performances you never know there was a mistake much like in the Art of Possibility when he describes how the first violin had a memory lapse and the second violinist picked up in the next beat. They asked him at the end of the performance how could you possibly known what to play, he answered “ I could see your third finger was poised over the wrong string, so I knew you must’ve forgotten what came next.” Amazing.

Is using movie clips others have taken from other movies “OK”?

Is using movie clips others have taken from other movies “OK”?

 My 12-year-old son, Nathaniel has begun to make his own movies. Early on in the Full Sail University EMDT I began to use iMovie. I thought it had developed into a great program and that my son would enjoy making movies on it. Being that he is a digital native, he took to it like a fish to water. He began to make clips for his honors class, he made movies for his brothers, and then he began to post some movies on YouTube. As a protective parent this is where I began to worry a little, because I do not approve of everything that is on YouTube. However my son has acted very responsibly and I’m proud of the work is done. This brings us to my blog question. We have discussed copyright law and the fair use policies, however I am a little concerned on how that applies when someone makes a copy of a copy of someone else’s work.

 Is it okay to take various clips from YouTube to create your own video? Under fair use policy since he is only using a few seconds of video to make another video then he should be fine. However since he is taking the clip from someone else’s small video clip the percentage he is taking from the clip is larger. I am not sure that I even can explain it clearly therefore I am including the video as part of my blog. I was going to make comments on it however I do not feel that would be fair to my son. I left the video as my son produced it. The video is a movie trailer competition, for “The Hunger Games” that will come out in 2012. The movie is based on a series of books that my son has read and enjoyed very much. My son has been watching other people’s trailers on YouTube and decided to create this one. Reading books and making videos is definitely better than getting the trouble and playing video games all day. I just want to make sure he is not breaking the law in the process. Enjoy

Response to Sheri's Blog, week 2 review

Sheri’s blog

All of the structure and ideals we use to bind ourselves into our lives are invented.  Only looking beyond the proverbial box can help us see beyond our immediate world.  I have often thought about how we create our own world based on our experiences. “The Art of Possibility” by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander is one of the most amazing book I have ever read. Unleashing the possibilities within should be the goal of every person.  It really is all invented.  Someone created the ideas we use to guide our lives.  What could we accomplish if we did not know fear?  Assumptions are the biggest hindrance for me in opening up to the realm of possibility.  It is so easy to make a judgment about someone or a situation.   

During the last week, I have focused on trying to stop making assumptions about situations.  I find that when I do this I have an easier time giving someone an ”A.” I have found that I have more patience with people because I try not to make assumptions or judgments about behaviors and actions.  It helps to think about how you are contributing on a daily basis.  I loved that the idea of being a contribution releases one from the cycle of success versus failure.  The chapter where the author describes his class after giving everyone an “A” is very intriguing.  I have toyed with the notion of presenting this idea to my students.  Though I do not think my administration would be receptive to the idea, I like the affect on the students.  It releases them from the cycle of success versus failure and brings them to a place where they can focus on their personal journey.   

An excellent education teaches students how to live beyond the course material.  This class is an excellent example of the concept.  Though the course is titled “Media Asset Creation,” I feel as though I have learned more about how I want to live my life.  Lessons taken from this week’s reading have affected my personal thinking in ways that will extend beyond the course itself.

                                Picture by Richard Stemple and the reason why he will never complain about the heat

Response

I like the idea that we are all connected much like a tree. The great photograph you took of the tree makes your blog come into perspective.

 It is always hard not to have some assumptions but keep in mind teachers are people too, we all have some assumptions. The real trick is not to let our assumptions get in the way of our teaching. The idea that everyone gets an A is great, of course as long as they earn it. You can give everyone an A and then just deduct from the grade when assignments are not completed, however I’m sure you’ve thought of that already. Great point that an excellent education gets you to live beyond the course, school, and the material. It is not always about getting an A.

Response to Cheryl's Week 2 Reading

Cheryl’s post

This picture depicts this weeks reading exactly as I interpret it.  Life is what we make of it.  We choose the direction.  There were many things in the reading that I enjoyed.  I loved how the author described success and failure as a two sided coin, but if we choose contribution instead, it is a one sided coin and therefore a win-win situation for all.  I also loved the wording well heeled and down at the heel. I had never heard that before.  It must be the way that other countries describe the highs and lows of life.  Something else that would do us all good to remember is to "engage people in your passion for life", and "don't speak to cynicism, but to passion" (Art of Possibility).  I try to envision a world where there was no cynicism, only passion for life, and it is definitely a mind blower! The thought of giving all students an A the first day of class was awesome! Can you even begin to imagine the look on a bunch of kids faces the first day you handed out all A's? Talk about a jaw dropping experience! The thought of throwing your arms up in the air and exclaiming "how fascinating" when you make a mistake is also cute.  All in all, I think that this weeks reading had the intended effect on me.  It got me thinking, and at just the right time. School is beginning and this was a great reminder that life is all a story, and it is all in the way we choose to tell it! Have a great day!

                                                          Photo by Richard Stemple. Nate Stemple waiting for the school bus in 2007

Response

Cheryl, great insight and what a positive attitude.  I like the picture you chose as well, because the right path is not necessarily the road you are on.This is the time that I miss regular classroom teaching, the first day of school and the excitement of all the teachers and children. I also cannot believe that our program is coming to an end. I’m sad that we will not be able to meet on a weekly basis, however I am optimistic about the future. Everyone in this EMDT  class are amazing teachers and exceptional individuals, I hope we will all be able to keep in touch in the future especially in the new digital age.