NAMLE Our Story-December 2015
Nebraska Association of Middle Level Educators
From the President
1) Tell the story of middle level education throughout Nebraska
2) Network-Bring middle level educators together
3) Improve education for 9-15 year old students by providing support of middle level educators.
In October of this year, we brought together middle level educators from around the state of Nebraska. Every year, we come together to learn, laugh, and enjoy a day that brings us together as middle level educators. NAMLE PDI is an opportunity that is unique in that we really learn from each other and it is small enough that we truly get to know each other. It is a day I look forward to every year. Within this edition of NAMLE's "Our Story," we recap some of the highlights from PDI.
Dave Weber – Sticks and Stones Exposed: The Truth behind Words and Relationships-by Desiree Teahon
Dave Weber's keynote presentation at NAMLE's PDI energized the room with a great message about how words and relationships are a critical part of the classroom. Here are some of Dave’s key ideas.
- Be a frog kisser – Use your words to bring out the best in people as the words that you use can shape and lead to the behavior and outcomes that you desire.
-Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships-Education is a three-legged stool - rigor, relevance, and relationships. Without relationships rigor and relevance can lead to rebellion.
- Quality Relationships-The most powerful predictor of student achievement is the quality of relationships among the staff.
- Its not about the destination, its about the trip.
These are just a few of the many great ideas that Dave Weber shared with the teachers at the NAMLE PDI. It was a great presentation and an inspiring message.
NAMLE PDI Afternoon Keynote Speaker, DeMoine Adams-by Mary Jo Leininger
Mary Jo Leininger
Demoine Adams
DeMoine’s message, H.E.R.O. Leadership, emphasized the powerful impact teachers have for teaching and modeling not only the “hard skills” of academics, but also the “soft skills” of character development. He outlined four critical character soft skills students need to learn:
Hope, “the expectation or desire that a certain thing will happen”. Often students fail to see their potential and do not reach for it. Teachers need to sow hope into students through encouragement and believing in them.
Efficacy, “self-belief and/or confidence in self”. Students must believe in themselves and that belief will be transformed from the inside out into action. The actions of students will follow the beliefs that they possess and to change actions you need to change your beliefs. There is tremendous power when a student recognizes that a teacher believes in them.
Resilience, “the ability to recover when one faces adversity”. Teachers need to promote the message to students to never give up. DeMoine compared adversity to a comma or period in your life. A period is the end of the sentence and comma is the pause between two thoughts. Each adversity is a comma to allow students time to determine how to handle the adversity.
Optimism, “the ability to see the positive, no matter how dark it is”. DeMoine pointed out that adults typically have an unconscious bias toward young people but that teachers must focus on the positive of each individual student and be optimistic about each student’s abilities and futures.
Big Fish Contest
Big Fish Participants
Big Fish Winner-Bailey Johnson of Hastings Middle School
Five groups were caught and participated in the first ever “Big Fish Contest”. They included:
Susan Christensen - Sunrise Middle School - “Evidence that I Studied Sheets”
Bailey Johnson - Hastings Middle School - “Making Educational Music Videos”
Matt Kern - York Middle School - “Turbo Powerball”
Shelly Patrick - Norris Middle School - “Let the Students Teach”
Paloma Mena-Werth and Roan Howard - Sunrise Middle School - “Sunrise Secret Service”
Most ideas centered around review activities and getting students prepared for an assessment, while another aimed at creating positive school climate. Each entry was unique and definitely had the students and learning as their focus. The NAMLE judges discussed the ideas and concluded that all were winners, and the “Biggest Fish” winner was Bailey Johnson. After the conference, Bailey was able to send a link for the instructions and a few of the videos she has created. These helped to not only summarize the strategy, but also give a clearer description of how to replicate the idea and what outcomes can be achieved.
Instructions for Creating
Example: Solar System Song
Example: Crayfish Rap
Example: NeSA Prep Song
My favorite comment was Bailey’s final comment. It definitely shared why this strategy was a “best practice” idea!
“The kids love these videos, not because they are grandly produced or beautifully sung, but because they see the effort I put into making science fun. The videos are mainly used as a review before the test and to motivate students to perform better. Music videos allow teachers to put vocabulary terms in different platforms for learning, possibly making them comical or witty.”~ Bailey Johnson
Special thanks to all that took the time to share their idea. Keep your eyes open for next year - we may be having another contest and looking for more “Big Fish Winners” in the sea of middle level educators!
Two Hands-on STEM Ideas - Perfect for Middle School!--by Matt Rosenau, Norris Middle School
Matt Rosenau
Programming with Sphero and the SPRK app
Sphero is basically a modern-day remote control car - a ball you control through a bluetooth device and an app. Sphero contains two motors, bright LED lighting, and various sensors. It is well-built (as the inclusion of a ‘collision sensor’ demonstrates) and waterproof. The real benefit comes from downloading the free, official SPRK app, which is used to program Sphero. Several examples are included in-app, and more curriculum is available online.
Teachers can group students, rotating responsibilities such as input, note-taker, retriever, etc. Challenges can be as simple as programming Sphero to move somewhere and light up, to as advanced as variables triggering actions. Students have enjoyed rotating between “stations” where tape outlines provide different challenges, and by turning off the lights and using time-lapse photography, we have recorded light trail designs and even spelled words! It’s hands-on programming where students can instantly receive real, physical feedback based on how Sphero behaves - perfect for that middle school mix of concrete and abstract thinking!
3D Printing
We recently acquired a 3D printer, a MakerBot Replicator, and the student response has been outstanding! By placing it in a visible place and printing in the morning, students are attracted and watch, where they begin to ask questions about how it works. But the learning opportunities go far beyond that. Through MakerBot’s Thingiverse and an easy-to-use AutoCad program called TinkerCad, students can easily explore and begin to design their own projects. By day two, 8th grade science students were already designing and printing their own wheels for a science project where they are building wagons!
Both programs certainly require an initial investment, but with implementation spearheaded by the right teacher-leaders, they can create high student engagement, impact several classrooms, and have a lasting presence through hands-on critical thinking - what middle school STEM should be!