National Coming Out Day Oct. 11

This Friday, October 11th is National Coming Out Day. Our GSA will be distributing rainbow ribbons in the front of the school in the morning to any student or teacher who wants to wear one. Our message is for students to "coming out" as advocates of safer schools to reduce levels of LGBT-related harassment and bullying. The Campaign encourages participants to make a statement and show their support of LGBT students by wearing a rainbow pin.

For those of you who are advisers and would like to discuss this special day with your advisory here are some videos, articles, and resources to assist you. Please review any video or resource before you show it to your group.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uurW29BEcFM

3-time All-American wrestler Hudson Taylor believes that sports should be for everyone. He created Athlete Ally—a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering athletes to consider their status as role models and be conscious of the words they choose, eliminating the homophobic language that is all too prevalent in sports.

• http://www.glaad.org/ally  several videos featuring straight allies literally coming out of a closet.

On the road to equality, the LGBT community's allies are essential participants who can make a huge difference simply by letting others know that support their LGBT friends, family members, and peers. GLAAD and Director Brett Ratner have launched this PSA campaign to ask our allies to come out and be heard in what is a historic time for equality, fairness and acceptance.

• http://www.glaad.org/resources/ally/2

 10 Ways to Be an Ally & a Friend

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOIIwmVbzw

Openly gay 14-year-old Graeme Taylor appeared on Ellen to talk about his impassioned speech in defense of a teacher who was suspended for kicking out a student for anti-gay remarks.

• http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/magazine/27out-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 Story about students coming out in middle school

Best, 

Ms. Dipalo and Ms. Krupala GSA Advisors

Free Technology for Teachers: A Lesson In Overcoming Obstacles

Free Technology for Teachers: A Lesson In Overcoming Obstacles: There's No Dishonor In Having a Disability is a new TED-Ed lesson that offers a great message to share with students as the new schoo...


Thanks to +Richard Byrne for posting this video on his blog.

Relay Field Day

Here is the clip that we were asked to share.

Relay Field Day Video

Sportsmanship

An inspiring story of sportsmanship that can spark a great conversation.
Thanks to Cathleen Dnyprowsky for submitting this video.

To This Day Project and Other Anti-Bullying Resources

I came across this article in the Huffington Post and wanted to share it. The video is truly moving.

I was inspired to look for more resources to share and here are a few of the sites I've found.

Bully Bust Educator Resources

Upstander Alliance

Bully Prevention Resources
bullying education.org
Bullying Fact Sheet

Thought Questions

Another great way to get your students thinking about the big picture and how they affect the lives of others is a site called thoughtquestion.com.
The site is designed to inspire self reflection and make you think.
Thanks to Mr. Lander for sharing this great site.

Games

A great way to get your advisory talking is to play games with them.

Here are a few suggestions:

Jenga

Headbandz ( Thanks Megan)

and another fun one is a Logo guessing game.

Here is an online logo guessing game- http://www.logoblog.org/famous-brands-logo-game/

Here is one courtesy of Paul Pelech

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1h6gq3amkk9fupe/Logos.xls

and the Answers - https://www.dropbox.com/s/mqrti91rmnikkkv/LogosAnswers.xls

Modeling Habits of Mind

Here is a link to an ASCD resource - it has examples of how to model Habits of Mind.
http://inservice.ascd.org/books/bring-habits-of-mind-to-life-by-modeling-them-in-class-heres-how

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.