How to teach volcanoes

VOLCANOES. They’re so cool, right? Not from up close, of course. I’m pretty sure your mentee would agree with you.

Here is an incredibly detailed article from The Guardian elaborating on the myriad ways for you and your mentee to learn about volcanoes together (with links). As this is a UK Newspaper, you might have to make a few adaptations to make their suggestions more relevant to our context – such as which volcanoes are closest to Canada, for example.

One thing the article fails to mention is the mythology behind volcanoes. Many cultures have specific myths and stories about volcanoes – if your mentee is into it, a cool project would be to look up and compare these myths!

It’s getting a little toasty here, don’t you think?

What kind of praise?

I’ll just let the article speak for itself! However, it’s important to keep in mind – the discussion on praise and encouragement applies to all fields, not just science.

Too Many Kids Quit Science Because They Don’t Think They’re Smart… But praising their intelligence can make them feel even more insecure. A self-esteem expert offers a way out of the conundrum.

Thesaurus game

This is a fun game to expand your mentee’s vocabulary (and yours, too)! Not all schools have a thesaurus, but you can use your smartphone or take one out of the library pre-HZ for this. You can do this activity not just with yourselves as subjects, but you can describe the school, your pet, your favourite hockey player, etc…

Here’s another great pre-writing activity that uses a thesaurus to help strengthen vocabulary choices. Why is this important? Because kids have a tendency to use the same words over and over when they write. A carefully chosen synonym will add sparkle to any writing assignment. By teaching your children to choose appropriate synonyms, you’ll help them expand their writing vocabulary, making their compositions, reports, and poems much more fun to read

 

Visit the WriteShop blog to find out how to play the Thesaurus Game with your kids. What a fun way to expand your mentee’s vocabulary!

An Interview with my Mentee

The picture my mentee and I drew together.

Yesterday was the last session of Homework Zone for the semester. I am always amazed at how fast the time goes! For fun I conducted a little interview with my mentee on the last day and thought it would be great to share it here.

What was the best thing about Homework Zone?

Doing arts and crafts! (see the above drawing, one of many from the semester) 

What’s your favourite colour?

Purple

What’s your favorite thing to have for lunch?

Kraft Dinner

Double Reflection

The title of this post may seem a little peculiar, but while trying to come up with a title I realized there is no good way to use “reflection” twice in a five word title, so I settled for the vaguer but easier to say: “Double Reflection.”

So, on to this semester’s Reflection Workshop! It was a couple of weeks ago now, on October 22. If you weren’t able to make it, do not think that you were the only one, there was only a small group of us there. An unfortunate, but inevitable, outcome of midterm season.

Despite our small numbers, the workshop was incredibly instructive and insightful. It was given by Megan Webster (a PhD candidate in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education) and focused on how to help students make sense of their own thinking. I thought that this was a great topic to address in a workshop because understanding how people other than ourselves think is incredibly difficult, but utterly essential to any kind of teaching.

Icebreaker activity: 80 questions that Mentors can ask their Mentees

80 Questions That Mentors Can ask Their Mentees

Use this activity as a way to get to know your mentee on your first meeting. You absolutely don’t have to ask all 80 questions (unless you want to!), just pick the ones that you are drawn to… and let your mentee ask you questions, too!

After doing this activity, you can illustrate your answers together in a drawing, making it the first common project you do together in the semester.

Emily and Emma, Riverview Elementary, Fall 2013

How do we learn from our mistakes?

How do we learn from our mistakes?

We all make mistakes, and hopefully, we also learn from them. But when did we start to learn from our mistakes? Who taught us to do so?

Perhaps you have noticed that your mentee seems to shut down after having done a minor mistake in their homework, or on the other hand refuses to do their homework because it is difficult, and they know they will make mistakes. As young adults, we often have enough experience to know we make mistakes and that we can expect to learn from them. As children, sometimes a small mistake would come to define us.

It is important to remind our mentees that we all make mistakes, and to show them how to learn from them. Here are some tips: don’t be dramatic! They will pick up on our emotional cues. Instead, go through the actions or thought process that lead to their mistake, so that they understand it is the result of a series of actions, and not a result of a character flaw. If the mistake is in an art project, for example, help them find ways to use it in their art, or use it as a learning opportunity: almost any mistake can be fixed, so don’t be afraid of making more!

You can find more useful tips on how to help children learn form their mistakes here and here.

Mentoring Boys

When it comes to the growth and development of children, do boys and girls have separate needs? Of course, there is no simple answer to this question. And we must always look at individual needs, understanding how society, culture, economics …

Reflection Event – May 23rd, 2012

From impact to tutoring skills, our night of anecdotal fun gave us a lot to talk about. Keep reading to see what issues we discussed and the resolutions we brainstormed…

1) How do you think you students see you? What impact do you believe you have?

 Older, more experienced and good at everything – In this case, remember to have conversations with your kids to show them your fallibility. You DON’T have to be good at everything in order to be intelligent or successful. Emphasize that you are still learning, even though you’re SO OLD (haha).

McGill Student, and thus either embodiment of goals or embodiment of the unachievable –  As one of the volunteers notes, her girl thought McGill was the “Holy Grail” while the other was taught to forget about post-secondary education. Try to expand their perceptions. You don’t NEED McGill, it is just a great school that offers many things. Remind them of the various clubs in highschool they can join to learn cool, new things. Talk about how intelligence and learning isn’t restricted to the school.

Someone to talk to – Every single outburst of emotion these kids show, is a sign of how much they care about you. It is important that they have someone to let out their worries on. Do not be anxious if you feel you do not know how to deal with the situation. It is enough that you listen. Sometimes, ways to help are easy. Example: for an anxious grade sixer about to enter High School, bring in your old yearbook to show them how awesome it can be and how much they’ll grow.

Other answers: a motivator, a diverse figure, a friend and a tutor

2) How do you think your students see themselves?

Someone who won’t amount to anything – Of course, we know this isn’t true about our kids. This perception comes from a negative self-image. This can come from failure in school, mistreatment (verbal, cyber or physical bullying), media absorption, etc etc. For the school work, break things down into small (achievable!) tasks to boost their ego. For bullying, treat them with RESPECT and remind them of their potential. Talk about your goals and dreams on a simple scale. And for media absorption, have conversation with them or look to our archives for activities. It always helps, in general, to make them feel useful. Give them things to do, responsibilities. Speaking of which…

Someone who is irresponsible – Relay stories about how much you’ve grown to become responsible (after all,  I’m STILL growing!). Remind the kids that responsibility doesn’t happen over night. Maybe give him/her a small task to accomplish each week at Homework Zone (ie; hand-out snack, collect pencils at end, etc).

Someone who can’t do it alone – Sometimes, they say this simply because they want your full attention. And you know what? Give it to them! Allow them to accomplish the homework alone while providing your full attention (perhaps have them talk to you about the process while they do it). If you are juggling 3 different kids, set up smaller tasks that each of them can do while you set up the next kid. Inform each child they will need to present you with a very important progress report in order to continue.

3) As a tutor, what problems do you encounter (and what tools do you need to overcome them)?

Inability to understand – The key is to break it down into smaller, achievable steps. Not only will it boos their ego, but it will help narrow down what exactly the question is asking. For example:

• What are the numbers? Circle them.
• What am I doing? Division
• What des that mean?
• What numbers are important? Write them down.
•  What do need to find with them? Underline.
• Etc.

     Keeping Focus/Attention – Use manipulatives (ie; counters) to visualize the problem. Sometimes, however, students forget the answer the moment they turn away…and then the manipulatives have been jumbled. Perhaps draw visuals. The key is to slowly reduce the use of manipulatives and visuals, moving the picture into their head. This can be accomplished by having students think out loud as they go through the process. Eventually, they’ll go through the movements without the visuals.

     Do not rely on memorization and rote learning. Make sure students are thinking about the processes, not just the answers.