A Twitter Chat Devoted to Middle School Teachers Discusses Advisory

Learning Styles Activity

Paul P has shared this activity. Thanks Paul.

Learning Styles Survey Plan

Conflict Resolution Scenarios

Conflict resolution scenarios

A. You and your best friend have always played soccer together on town and recreational

teams. You both try out for the travel team. You make it and your friend doesn't. At first

your friend claims not to care, but you soon realize your friend is very angry. Your friend

doesn't want to spend as much time together as you used to, and, of course, you have daily

practices and games your friend doesn't attend. What do you do?

B. Your friend tells you a secret in absolute confidence. You don't really mean to, but you tell

another friend. Soon the whole camp seems to know what your friend's secret is. Your

friend is really mad at you. Your other friends are also upset that you revealed the secret.

What do you do?

C.Your little sister (or brother) can be a real pain. Whenever you have friends over, she wants

to do everything with you. She annoys you by following you around, interrupting when

you're talking, and demanding a turn in everything you do. It is very hard to find some

privacy with your friends when she is around. What do you do?

D. You are invited to go to the mall with a new group of friends. You don't know them that

well, but are excited that they included you in their plans. When you go into a crowded

music store, you think you see one of them slip a CD into a pocket without paying. What do

you do?

Thank you to Garry Zweig for submitting this to our blog

Interesting Ways to get to know Students

After participating in a twitter chat for middle school teachers (#mschat)  I asked the moderator @blocht574 for some advisory ideas and this is some of the feedback I got. It is great to have a network of people to count on and even better when they share great resources. Thanks again Todd!
Check out the link of 36 interesting ways to get to know your students. And join in the twitter chat on Thursday nights at 8:00pm. See you then.

https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_650dvtj3dgk

Welcome Back 2012-13

The advisory blog is a great place to find activities and ideas to use with your advisory group. If you have any ideas to share please let me know and I will post them to the blog.
Have a great year!
Heather

The Cup Game

The Cup Game, a game of following directions, coordination, and team-work, was a huge success in my advisory last week! First, I showed students some student pros, using this video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adrITOXR1U4



and then we practiced slowly with the help of this tutorial, previously posted by John Lento.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grb1oa72kmk&noredirect=1


Thanks to Katie Pearce

A Glass Half Full: The Power of Positive Thinking

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/a-richer-life-by-seeing-the-glass-half-full/
This article was shared by Gina and Jerry. They used it to spark a discussion in their advisory.

People First Language

Great article about inclusion, freedom and respect for all by Kathie Snow.  To read the complete article, click on the picture above.  For more information and more resources, visit http://www.disabilityisnatural.com/

Inspiring Video

Check out this inspiring video about a man named Patrick Henry Hughes.

The Power of Words

Check out this video a great discussion starter about the power of words. 

Does how you say something matter? 

Submitted by Eileen Mangicapre

Change For A Dollar Movie

Change For A Dollar Movie: Is he asking for Change, or is he asking for CHANGE? Follow a man as he affects multiple peoples' lives with just one dollar, proving that it doesn't take much to be the change in someone's life. Written and directed by Sharon Wright.


Thanks to Dee Elzer for sharing this video.

Soles4Souls

http://www.soles4souls.org/

Randi Falow would like us all to participate in gathering shoes for this charity. Please take a look at the website and let her know if you would like to have your advisory participate.
Soles4Souls is a Nashville-based charity that collects shoes from the warehouses of footwear companies and the closets of people like you. The charity distributes these shoes to people in need, regardless of race, religion, class, or any other criteria. Since 2005, Soles4Souls has delivered over 16 million pairs of new and gently worn shoes. The shoes have been distributed to people in over 127 countries, including Kenya, Thailand, Nepal and the United States.

Why Advisory?

In a keynote speech at the AMLE Secretary of Education Arne Duncan mentioned a study that cited only half of middle schools had advisory. Why is advisory important? Experts from AMLE have put together an answer here.
http://www.amle.org/Publications/MiddleLevelInsider/JustAsk/tabid/2395/Default.aspx

Habits of Mind

Last year our Shared Decision Making committee investigated the Habits of Mind. In our student plan books the 16 habits are listed. Advisory might be a great time to take a look at these habits and begin a discussion with the students.

Here is a link to a great article that describes the Habits of Mind.
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/108008/chapters/Describing-the-Habits-of-Mind.aspx

Below is a slideshare that can be shared with your advisory to illustrate the Habits of Mind.

Habits Of Mind

View more presentations from maybecrystal

Some sites from Dee Elzer

Dee sent me some sites for us to use in Advisory. Please take a look.
This clip on geotagging is well-worth the few minutes it takes to watch. My thanks to Phil Nespeca for forwarding it to me.


Please view at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2vARzvWxwY

Another site that Dee recommended was:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BewknNW2b8Y&feature=player_embedded


Thank you for your time.

October is Anti-Bullying Month

Two links that address bullying, some food for thought this month. Please also, check out past posts on this topic for ideas.
http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2011/10/october-is-anti-bullying-month-and.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/09/29/mitchell-wilson-suicide-disabled-bullying_n_987070.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl3%7Csec1_lnk3%7C100214

The First Advisory

Our first advisory is almost here and I wanted to remind you where you can find ideas for lessons. This blog is a great place to find ideas and share them as well. If you would like to post and idea please let me know and I will give you access as a contributor.
In the library there are several books available.
Here is a link to a post that was made last year:
http://smsadvisory.blogspot.com/2010/09/library-materials-available.html#links

Here is a link to some Icebreaker activities that may be helpful:
http://wilderdom.com/games/Icebreakers.html

Enjoy your Advisory and have Fun!

Welcome back!

Welcome back!
Gina Cacioppo shared this with me and asked that I share it with all of you.
Just wanted to share a special on Bullying covered by dateline NBC. The special addressed not only the agressor and victim, but the bystanders and concept of peer pressure. I find this topic very important to the health and wellbeing of our students. I have attached links to a few clips of the show.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk_k2pnMO9o&NR=1 GIRLS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=6W9N9ZDBA1M BOYS

The topic of bullying is very close to my heart.

Best of Advisory 2010-2011

As the school year comes to a close it is always a good time to reflect on the lessons we've taught. Advisory has been a wonderful way  for us to get to know our students better and for them to get to know each other.
Below are some  advisory ideas from colleagues that they have found to be successful.

Submitted by Marcy Tretler
I have used activities from a book borrowed from the library called A Treasure Chest A Teacher Advisory Source Book.  One that the kids seemed to respond to was a story called "Duck's Best Friends". In it, the class teases a boy because he is clumsy and constantly falls. They find out he is seriously ill and will not be returning to school. The  class is upset with their own behavior. We talked about what you can learn from this story.

Submitted by Margo Christopher and Katie Pearce (there is also a prior post)
You Tube-Kid and Marshmallow Test
Here is brief description.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kid+and+marschmallow&aq=f
In this YouTube, a child is given a marshmallow on a plate and told to sit in a room. Before leaving, an adult tells the child he can eat the marshmallow now or wait until the adult comes back and get two marshmallows. It is quite cute to see how these children react. Discussions about instant gratification, patience, as well as cheating can be initiated from this Youtube.

Submitted by Ellen Goltzer

Activity #1 - Something About Me - Silly Putty StyleWhen Advisory started in the beginning of the school year, I brought in a silly putty for each student. I asked them to create something that would describe them or something they liked to do. The kids really enjoyed it and I got to know something new about each student. Activity #2 - Let's Make The Pieces Fit?I wanted to incorporate the importance of teamwork so I brought in an old puzzle I had at home. It has oversized pieces and when completed it is 4' x 4'. Each student received 4 pieces and they had to work together to put the puzzle together on the floor. It was cool how they all assisted each other. Then we talked about the importance of teamwork.
I would be happy to lend out any of these materials if you are interested.


Submitted by Dee Elzer
In my advisory I used this youtube video about how photos taken with smart phones can be used to track down where the photo was taken. We discussed geo-tagging and how parents can track their children on google earth/maps. We also discussed how 'bad' people can get information about where they/the students hang out and live through their photos that are posted on sharing sites.
Great short video to spark conversation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2vARzvWxwY

Submitted by Gina Cartolano
The link below takes you to the Rock or Feather activity that was posted in a prior blog post.
http://smsadvisory.blogspot.com/2011/03/education-world-lesson-planning-rock-or.html

Another activity submitted by Gina involves having students choose solutions to social situations they may have to deal with. The link below will take you to the document called Advisory 4 Corners situations.
https://sites.google.com/site/greatnecksouthmiddleadvisory/blog-resources

Submitted by Randi Falow
2 session Advisory activity


#1
1. I brought in a voodoo doll that had pins and several messages on it. Some were positive messages like win money, some were negative like be prosecuted for tax fraud. I asked the kids, before passing the doll around the room, if they thought it would work. They all said no. They did, however, all want to poke the doll.


2. This discussion went on to include things you can do when you are angry that allow your feelings to come out, but don’t hurt anyone, anything, or anyone’s feelings. Everyone took a turn placing pins on the doll. This was deemed therapeutic.


3. I gave out slips of paper and told everyone to write something bad that they had said or done, something they wish they could take back. Names were NOT written on slips of paper. We placed all the papers in a bag and I shook the bag. I ripped up the bag and the contents and absolved everyone of what they had done. Tiny pieces of paper were recycled. We called for a “new beginning.”


4. The students were asked, “Is it ever right to wish that bad things happen others?” What about people like Qaddafi ? “ The group decided that it was ALWAYS wrong, no matter what, to wish bad things to happen to others.
#2
We made paper fortune tellers with positive things you can wish others.
Susan Zucker did a great job showing the students how. Also, there are great instructions on youtube.


Submitted by Marissa Koch
My students really enjoyed Two Truths and One Lie. For this activity, they write three sentences about themselves, two that are true and one that is a lie, and the class has to guess which are the truths and which is the lie.


Submitted by John Lento
The Cup Game
Watch the youtube video with the students and follow the directions. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grb1oa72kmk

I had them do it individually at first.
Once they got it, they played in groups.
They had a lot of fun.  It was a good team-building activity.








Please don't be shy send your best ideas to be posted.

Follow up to Rock and Feather Activity

#comments-
Tried this activity in my advisory today and it was fun. The kids enjoyed it and it really got them talking. Some of them did not want to choose a category but were able to describe why. Even the quiet students in my advisory were willing to speak. This activity inspired a lot of interesting conversations and helped me get to know the students even better.