 Volume 2, No. 1 16 August, 2002 [To view this newsletter on line: |
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Welcome back! For our first issue of the 2002-03 school year, we've scrapped (temporarily, anyway) our usual format, and brought you a host of sites with back-to-school activities, projects, ideas, and resources - as always, free from the Internet! Since we know you're busy as a bee in a flower shop, we've made the reviews and links short, sweet, and to the point. Don't forget to send us your favorites as well, and we'll include them in our next issue. Good luck, and
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The
Help Desk's Back-To-School Issue
| Get to know your students (and vise-versa!) | 
The Biography Assignmenthttp://home.cogeco.ca/~rayser3/writing.htm#biogr Here's a biography exercise supplied by Ray Saitz, a school librarian in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada. His website has other lesson plans! |
First Days of Schoolhttp://education.indiana.edu/cas/tt/v1i2/first.html This simple exercise, contributed to Teacher Talk by middle school teacher Laura Versaci from Decatur Middle School in Indianapolis, is a good first assignment that will get your students to talk about themselves! |
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All
About Mehttp://atozteacherstuff.com/lessons/AllAboutMe-7th.shtml Another biography exercise, this one with a little more emphasis on good writing practice. "A to Z Teachers Stuff" is a Dot-Com with some pop-up ads, but some good lesson plan ideas! |
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| Icebreakers | 
Hollywood!http://www.theteacherscorner.net/seasonal/backtoschool/hollywood.htm Kids have the face of a Hollywood star stuck on their backs, and they have to go around and ask questions to try to guess their own identity. A good idea with lots of variations! The Teacher's Corner is a Dot-Com funded by ads. |
Ice Breakers, Vol 4http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson131.shtml Dozens of ideas for ice-breakers! Look down the article for "Time Capsule" for one that should work well for middle schoolers. "Ice Breakers" is a regular beginning-of-the-year feature of Education World, a corporate-funded but otherwise free Dot-Com. |
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| Classroom management and discipline | 
What's all the hype? Dealing with disruptive studentshttp://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/teaching/disruptive/ This is a brief discussion of what you can do to help deal with those particularly trying students right from the start. Teach-nology specializes in offering links and resources for technology integration. The site is a storefront for a consulting service, with further support through ads. There are lots of general resources, however. |
Solutions for Handling 117 Misbehaviorshttp://www.disciplinehelp.com/ This site, sponsored by the intensely commercial "The Master Teacher," is free. It has a list of misbehaving "types," with possible explanations for the behaviors, strategies that help, and approaches that won't work. It is, of course, impossible to categorize human behavior entirely, but this site has a lot of insights and ideas! |
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| General resources, and things to think about those first few days |  101
Things You Can Do the First Three Weeks of Classhttp://www.unl.edu/teaching/101ways.html This list was contributed by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in support of their own teachers, but much of the list applies to all teachers. Ideas like "Greet students at the door when they enter the classroom" and "Let your students see the enthusiasm you have for your subject and your love of learning." |
Back to Schoolhttp://www.middleweb.com/1stDResources.html Dozens of first day of school ideas, resources, and lesson plans. The MiddleWeb also produces two newsletters of books and on-line resources delivered right to your in-box! |
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 Back
to School!http://www.abcteach.com/Backtoschool/backtoschoolTOC.htm Aimed mostly at a younger audience, but there are lots of general ideas applicable to middle schoolers. ABC Teach is the product of former teacher Sandy Kemsley and a team of teachers from across the country. |