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Advice to a teacher

Here is a request that I received:

Date: Sunday, November 15, 2009, 3:40 PM

Hi!, My name is Isabel. I try to teach my students English but sometimes it is very complicated.
I heard about you in a youtube video. Are you interested in giving me some ideas to use?
Best regards from Barcelona, Spain.
Isabel.

-------  

Here is my response


I am VERY interested in giving you ideas to use.   My dream is to visit and teach in classrooms around the world.   I am happy to show you videos on youtube showing my classes.   I encourage you to use the worksheets that I posted on www.scribd.com.

I hope you will improve them and send me the improvements.

My method of teaching changed after I heard Dennis Littky on the radio and after I saw Dennis Yuzenas and after I read a blog by Abraham Fischler.   Fischler talks about giving students different amounts of time to complete a project.  People learn differently and at different rates.  

Littky and Yuzenas say, "Students learn quickly whatever they want to learn.  The goal is to find the student's passion and then teacher through the passion."   So instead of having one lesson plan to teach a grammar point, I have one lesson plan with 32 varieties of homework and classroom activities (because i have two groups of 16 students)...  I try to make EVERY piece of pairwork personal to the student, so instead of saying, "give three examples of how to use the words of the body in sentences"  (wrist, ankle, etc.), I sy, "You're a dentist.  How can you use words of the body in your practice?  BE CAREFUL of THE PATIENT'S FOOT WHEN YOU ARE REPAIRING HIS TOOTH.  HE BROKE HIS ANKLE LAST WEEK."


I am sending your letter to several colleagues.  They might have some suggestions.   We are writing a book together called www.BiggerthanBrazil.com and you can find more tips over there.   

The Visual and Active team of teachers is prepared to give workshops to teachers in our cities and to travel to show your school how to make classes more "visual and active" -- th technique is "edu-taining."   If we are in Europe, can we come to your school?
  Perhaps we can give a workshop and you can collect a fee and we can all benefit.


Until then (we do not expect to be in Europe until May 2011), please look at www.youtube.com/visualandactive for videos showing our techniques.

Please send me specific questions.

scribd.com link



Give your students free items on the internet

http://www.scribd.com/doc/4026552/american-english-dictionary-contemp-usage  a useful dictionary... free.


GRAMMAR PRACTICE with Answers  http://www.scribd.com/doc/6633775/Cambridge-English-Grammar-in-Use-2nd-Edition-by-Raymond-Murphy

BUSINESS VOCAB:  http://www.scribd.com/doc/7868043/Bill-Mascull-Business-Vocabulary-in-Use   


VOCABULARY  http://www.scribd.com/doc/11455654/Cambridge-English-Vocabulary-in-Use-PreIntInt


GRAMMAR:  http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/English_in_Use/Print_version

http://www.scribd.com/doc/16066265/Very-Cool-Sites-Half-Edition
visit my half edition (really just the first 2 percent...)   

(20)  If you have favorite songs that you think people in other countries should know about (such as "My Andy" by Joanna of Sweden and "The Show" by Lenka), send the name of the song and if possible a link to the song on Youtube.   Thanks!  The second book project is called (working title):  "I Saw It On Youtube!"  www.Isawitonyoutube.com


Use the internet with your students

PsychologyToday.com  http://www.psychologytoday.com/tests  and  WHAT KIND OF DRIVER ARE YOU?  http://psychologytoday.tests.psychtests.com/take_test.php?idRegTest=1309

Funny video about US geography  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mmVHfOvKWc



-----------------  

VISUALandACTIVE.com
I am part of a group of visual and active teachers.  We have formed a group and we are available to train other teachers in a "revolutionary" way of teaching.  Actually, it is the old style of teaching.  It's called "Ask the student what he wants to learn, then teach that subject (by asking the student to discover and explore what he wants to learn), guide him with questions, and then check the student's understanding, not by writing but by asking him to talk about it."   It is an old way of teaching and it means the teacher is a facilitator.  Many teachers fear this method.  "It's too much work," they tell me.  "I have to have 25 plans, one for each student."   Yes, and yet it is easier.  

I invite you to watch a video of a trip to a remarkable school.   If you sit with a good teacher and listen to her tell stories, that's the way to learn.  She asks questions, she answers questions, she entices you with another story and the learning continues.   That's the way we have the "Visual and Active" method of teaching. 

Our group has a training workshop.   We hope someday to charge for this course, but for now we need to gather feedback and make the workshop well-known.  We are on youtube and we encourage you to share this information with other teachers and principals/headmasters and parents.   I also provide FOLLOWUP by Skype or Email to find out how the procedures are being implemented.    You can learn more by going to www.visualandactive.com

ACTION REQUESTED:  Please pass this email message to a principal or a teacher.   I believe this method can provide valuable new procedures for many schools and many subjects.   I have worksheets and quotations to help people.

READINGS:   http://sites.google.com/site/visualandactive/Home/about-us/thats-edu-tainment/readings

http://www.thelearningweb.net/personalthink.html
-----------------  

Educators should:
personalize education and work to individualize instruction;
enable students to develop and use their areas of strength;


view students' parents as partners and educate them, too;
offer an environment that supports faculty growth; and
demonstrate that students are prepared for the future.
Becoming a Multiple Intelligences School
Thomas Hoerr


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEgTB1tuKkM   The New Three Rs, a visit to Dennis Littky's school   PART 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snW5xkyBFvI   Littky's school   Part 2    

Get the Littky Book, The Big Picture 
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Big-Picture/Dennis-Littky/e/9780871209719/?itm=2&usri=1
Read these pages:
page 34- quote by Robert Reich, the former Secretary of Labor
pages 66-70  school size
pages 86-92  discipline
pages 113-114  real work
Page 116 the formula that Bill Gates used in his Feb. 2005 speech to Governors at the Naitonal High School Summit.
pages 152-162  grades?  no, narratives
pages 162-168  Tests?  no, exhibitions

If you know someone who can translate pages, please show them www.visualandactive.com and my courses about "that's Edu-tainment"
If you know a principal or director of a school who wants to transform the school's teachers, tell me... I can create an excellent workshop... 


Our Workshops:
"Fix Your School"
"That's Edu-Tainment!"
Visual and Active Educational Consultants
Yuzenas, Lloyd, Elcome, Filho da Silva, Schiano, McCrea and Associates
VisualandActive.com
VisualandActive@gmail.com
+1 (954) 646-8246

LITTKY BOOK  
http://www.scribd.com/doc/16340634/plitqi-Chapter-5-passions

FREE BOOK
http://www.thelearningweb.net/learningrevolution1999.html


I use songs in my classes
=======  
a sweet song to recommend...  it is used on a Target ad...

Let Your Love Flow.   Bellamy Brothers


There's a reason for the sunshinin' sky
And there's a reason why I'm feelin so high
Must be the season when that love light shines all around us

So let that feelin grab you deep inside
And send you reelin where your love can't hide
And then go stealin' through the moonlit nights with your lover

Just let your love flow like a mountain stream
And let your love grow with the smallest of dreams
And let your love show and you'll know what I mean
It's the season

Letyour love fly like a bird on wing
And let your love bind you to all livin things
And let your love shine and you'll know what I mean
That's the reason

There's a reason for the warm sweet nights
And there's a reason for the candlelights
Must be the season when those love lights shine all around us

So let that wonder take into space
And lay you under its loving embrace
Just feel the thunder as it warms your face
You can't hold back



it's hard to be sad when I hear this song...


Stuck in the middle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHKDCqnH_7M
  Lenka  

I'm just a little bit
caught in the middle
Life is a maze
and love is a riddle
I don't know where to go
I can't do it alone
(I've tried)
and I don't know why

Slow it down
make it stop
or else my heart is going to pop
'cuz it's too much
Yeah, it's a lot
to be something I'm not

I'm a fool
out of love
'cuz I just can't get enough

The sun is hot in the sky

just like a giant spotlight
The people follow the sign
and synchronize in time
It's a joke
Nobody knows
they've got a ticket to that show
Yeah



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMBFY_hrYWc
Silver moons and paper dreams
Faded maps and shiny things
Youre my favorite one man show
A million different ways to go.

Will you fly me away?
Take me away with you,
My Love.

Painted seams and up all night,
Slaying monsters and flying kites
Speak to me in foreign tongues
Share your secrets one by one

Now I can't think what life was like
Before I had you by my side
Can't say what I'd do without you,
Knowing what it's like to have you

Hidden walk ways back in time
Endless stories, lovers cry
In my mind I've been set free
Will you take this Journey
You and Me?


The Story...    
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvLawq5w9ns
   Brandi Carlile

All of these lines across my face
Tell you the story of who I am
So many stories of where I've been
And how I got to where I am
But these stories don't mean anything
When you've got no one to tell them to
It's true...I was made for you
I climbed across the mountain tops
Swam all across the ocean blue
I crossed all the lines and I broke all the rules
But baby I broke them all for you
Because even when I was flat broke
You made me feel like a million bucks
You do
I was made for you
You see the smile that's on my mouth
It's hiding the words that don't come out
And all of my friends who think that I'm blessed
They don't know my head is a mess
No, they don't know who I really am
And they don't know what 
I've been through like you do
And I was made for you...
The Story Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ] 


Laura Pausini   Non C'e
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfZckp-OngM

WE can't kill time!
There's no time to kill...  
There's no time to kill between the cradle and the grave
Father Time still takes a toll on every minute that you save
Legal tender's never gonna change the number on your days
The highest cost of livin's dyin', that's one everybody pays
So have it spent before you get the bill, there's no time to kill

If we'd known ten years ago today would be ten years from now
Would we spend tomorrow's yesterdays and make it last somehow
Or lead the cheers in someone else's game and never learn to play
And see the rules of thumb are all the same that measure every day
The grass is green on both sides of the hill, there's no time to kill

No time to kill, even I've said it, and probably always will
But I can look ahead and see that time ain't standin' still
No time to kill but time to change the kind of hurry I've been in
And quit this work and worry lookin' back at where I've been
If you don't look ahead nobody will, there's no time to kill

If we had an hour glass to watch each one go by
Or a bell to mark each one to pass, we'd see just how they fly
Would we escalate the value to be worth its weight in gold
Or would we never know the fortunes that we had 'til we grow old
And do we just keep killin' time until there's no time to kill

No time to kill, even I've said it and probably always will
But I can look ahead and see that time ain't standin' still
No time to kill but time to change the kind of hurry I've been in
And quit this work and worry lookin' back at where I've been
If you don't look ahead nobody will, there's no time to kill

No time to kill, even I've said it and probably always will
But I can look ahead and see that time ain't standin' still
No time to kill but time to change the kind of hurry I've been in
And quit this work and worry lookin' back at where I've been
If you don't look ahead nobody will, there's no time to kill


http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/black-clint/no-time-to-kill-3770.html
Today I woke up and I found more to love
Today I woke up and I found more (more, more, more)
Today I woke up and I found more to love
It's true

One day I woke up and I saw more to love
One day I woke up and I saw more (more, more, more,)
One day I woke up and I saw more to love
Of you



coward of the county  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gslUkiuc7A



What is your learning style?
http://www.floatingneutrinos.com/Message/arcs/links_on_abstractrandom.htm



I USE INTERESTING GEOGRPHY in my classes  
WEBCAMS in South Florida  http://southflorida.sun-sentinel.com/live/webcams/

Jeraldine's book http://www.scribd.com/doc/18902670/Life-Happens-Thought-Dial-2007-by-Sydney-Omarr-edited-by-Jeraldine-Saunders-and-Steve-McCrea
 
THE STRAIGHT DOPE is worth your time...

START LEARNING ENGLISH please -- give this packet to a friend or use it ... it is FREE  http://www.scribd.com/doc/18949431/Packet-of-Info-Set-a-goal-and-go-Visual-and-Active-Steve-McCrea


"A" school, my inside look at a charter school

24 page booklet to inform parents and students about alternatives


THE NEXT EDUCATIONAL PROJECT
 I have spoken to the Governor and he would like me to find a K-12 system willing to implement it. I also have spoken with a School Superintendent. My preference is to implement it in one zone (five or six elementary schools that feed a middle school which feeds a high school). I will speak with him again this week. It will take one year to get the predicate in place. 


Smile --- for me it is my final project. I did change higher education but this is even more important since 33 percent of ninth graders do not finish high school.

Abe

http://www.thestudentistheclass.com/2006/07/vision-for-educational-change.html#links

================  

Steve's youtube channels
for listening

for free lessons


http://www.youtube.com/visualandactive to become a better teacher




you might enjoy meg
http://www.youtube.com/user/pronunciationmeg


Yes, I provide FREE ENGLISH LESSONS.   I give them because I hope you will join me in some fun actvities to "change the Net":

sites.google.com/site/distortthenet

sites.google.com/site/welcometoourschool

===============  
I begin by reading a number of inspiring writers. 
http://sites.google.com/site/visualandactive/Home/about-us/thats-edu-tainment/readings
  Then I developed my teaching style (I teach ESOL) by copying animated "visual and active" teachers.

my workshops are for teachers.   I study innovative methods, like the style of Dennis yuzenas, and I create workshops to help other teachers learn from Dennis and other "edu-tainers"

A lot of my work comes from Dennis Littky,  
http://www.bigpicture.org/

here are some youtube links


1.  Dennis Yuzenas, master teacher, Edu-taining" teacher using Computer Assisted Instruction, Bak Middle School of the Arts, West Palm Beach, FL  


2.   Tour of Littky School   The New Three Rs


3.  Littky Method (Big Picture Learning)  Powerpoint on Youtube... 

4.  Steve McCrea talks about the New Three "Rs"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvKCCQ2p2q4

5.  Make a Portfolio of your Child's work and prepare for a GREAT application for university. Dennis Yuzenas tells you what you need....

6.  The Parent CD  part 1
How can parents participate?


What do you want in your school?  The Parent CD part 2

Inspiring READINGS

================  
BuildingInternationalBridges.org

TheStudentIsTheClass.com   <<<  please click and make an old man happy.

It is worth listening to this man.  
http://tars.rollins.edu/olin/archives/oral_history/Rich.htm
Low Cost Marketing Tips from Stevemccrea.com  
http://www.scribd.com/doc/19556094/Steve-McCrea-Low-Cost-Marketing-Tips-Checklist-Control-Calendar
ready or Not   book by Dr Levine

http://www.joelbarker.com/index.php

His two most quoted phrases:  "You can and should shape your own future; because if you don't someone else surely will."

And for leaders,  "No one will thank you for taking care of the present if you have neglected the future."



SMALL SCHOOLS BOOKLET  
http://sites.google.com/site/findasmallschool/home/in-praise-of-small-schools  
FOR TEACHERS:  The Red Pencil by T. Sizer  
http://books.google.com/books?id=U9kbyMXfHcYC&dq=ted+sizer++red+pencil&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=SqR5Ppmx5R&sig=I6cx_y3N2KykGytz4hg4KzpDGeE&hl=en&ei=wM3lSuekMo62M_3JlZ8D&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CA8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false


STUDENTS OF ENGLISH:  Perhaps you have friends who will join us in clicking on these sites?  Let's get their google rank up...
http://sites.google.com/site/distortthenet   (Make an old man happy by clicking on his blog about education)   
http://www.isawitonyoutube.com    I hope you will ask your friends to send me some cool sites.    thanks... 



http://plant-trees.org/about/cooling.htm

this explains the program    ... I develped the program with the Trees for the Future organization

www.plant-trees.org is the website of the organization...  I'm listed as a consultant on this page:   
http://plant-trees.org/contact/staff.htm

Steve the DVD Producer:  to see the filmbaby location (an excellent way to sell DVDs), see this link
and about San Miguel de Allende:  

My wife has some great photos   
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jkmccrea


HERE IS AN IMPORTANT SPEECH

Steve Jobs in California
'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says


http://www.cofradiaschool.com/    VISIT THIS SITE and learn about a remarkable school  (please)  and increase the google rank of a good charity...

For every teenager... 
http://www.scribd.com/doc/15637212/Get-Ahead-Booklet-by-Steve-McCrea

EVERYONE:
MAKE AN OLD MAN HAPPY:  www.theStudentistheClass.com  


Steve


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