Appreciating Diversity

Here a couple of links to some videos that might spark some conversation about appreciating diversity.  The videos showcase  a teenaged boy diagnosed with Autism that is given an opportunity to play basketball in High School. It also discusses how his teammates and classmates view him. They were suggested by John Liotta ( Social and Emotional Learning ) .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOiEHpoKIJA&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE_pwpBmG3w

New book in the library

We have a new book in the library called Teen Cyberbullying Investigated which deals with recent court cases based on this issue. The call number is 345.73 JAC. The information in this book could be great for starting a discussion on cyberbullying with your group. It is on display with our new books currently so come on in and check it out!

Cyberbullying

This is a great article from Teaching Tolerance magazine.

http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-38-fall-2010/cyberbullying

Dignity for All Students Act-New York Anti-Bullying law

Did you know NY passed an Anti-Bullying law? On Sept. 8, Governor Patterson signed the bill into law.

Read about it in this article. http://www.suite101.com/content/dignity-for-all-students-act---new-yorks-anti-bullying-law-a283825

Girls and Cyber-bullying Article

Maxine found a great article about the rise of cyber-bullying amongst girls take a look, might be a good place to start a discussion.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/01/AR2010090102648.html?wpisrc=nl_headline

First Advisory

Hi Everyone,
Hope your first advisory went well. I did a few fun activities I wanted to share. My group played a game called fruit salad. and created an Answergarden. Hope everyone has a great weekend.



What does advisory mean to you?... at AnswerGarden.ch.

Library Materials Available

The library has four new books that have many different activities and ideas for your advisory group. The books will be located behind the circulation desk in the professional collection. Come to the library and check them out!

The titles are:

Treasure Chest: A Teacher Advisory Source Book

Treasure Chest II: Problem Solving Activites, Brain Stretchers and Active Games

The Morning Meeting Book
The Advisory Book: Building a Community of Learners Grades 5-9

Another new tech tool to share

Great way to visually display words, Tagxedo.com , creates pictures with words, it can even translate a blog page into a word display.

New tech tool to share

This might be an interesting way to begin an Advisory.
Create an Answer Garden at http://answergarden.ch/demonstration/

Try it here.

Advisory is ...... at AnswerGarden.ch.
Answergarden: Advisory is ......:

Welcome to the South Middle Advisory Blog

Here are some great articles and resources  to get you in the mindset for Advisory:

- Advisories inspire and motivate 

http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin525.shtml 

- What makes a successful advisory?  

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr127.shtml

- National Middle School Association Article 

http://www.nmsa.org/Research/ResearchSummaries/AdvisoryPrograms/tabid/812/Default.aspx 

Found a great  new resource from Conflict Resolution Education, they have created a free teacher calendar that can be printed. It features a page for each month filled with sites and ideas for enhancing social emotional education.

http://www.creducation.org/cre/lo/2011_calendar