WAR, What is it good for? Absolutely EVERYTHING?

W.A.R. in baseball stands for "Wins above replacement."  It's a baseball statistic described by wikipedia as: 

Wins Above Replacement, commonly known as WAR, is a non-standardized sabermetric baseball statistic that is used to show how many more wins a player would give a team as opposed to a "replacement level", or minor league/bench player at that position.  
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wins_above_replacement


Edwin Star believes has his own belief about War.  He asks "War, what is it good for?"  
He claims "Absolutely nothing."

I could not disagree more!

When we think of WAR, wins above replacement this makes me think of education.  Wins above replacement (a sub).  When I walk into a class are you providing a learning experience unlike any other.  What is your WAR?

When I first started teaching I always strived for a classroom that "ran itself."  When I work with teachers and talk about "flipteaching"  teachers always ask "Well, what will they need me for then?"  

If you think a video can replace you, then it should!

The environment you provide, the relationship you create with a student, the desire to learn you grow, collaborating and connecting with students families and the community impact your WAR.

When you think about what you provide every day for students.  Are you providing an environment, an experience, a lesson that is statistically better than a replacement could give?  What added benefits are you bringing to the table?  

Challenge yourself every day in your school to provide a unique opportunity that is special.  Build lasting, compassionate relationships with students and families.  Ensure that your connection and experience you provide is without replacement.

They always say:

That may be true for the next warm body to fill the space.  But I guarantee their WAR won't be as high as mine.

So you ask, "WAR, good God y'all, What is it good for?"  Possibly EVERYTHING?!

Mad props to @mrsenorhill, @ideaguy42, @ahintofcinnamon, and @desertdiver for the idea for this post.

Top 10 list 5/20/11

10. 10 ways for teachers to collaborate

http://whatedsaid.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/10-ways-for-teachers-to-collaborate/

9. Build a home-school connection - There’s an app for that

http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2011/05/want-to-build-home-school-connection.html

8. Cool way to make sounds online

 http://www.beatlab.com/

7. Cool things to do with youtube videos

http://www.jogtheweb.com/run/xR4Bt3pPSkfz/Cool-things-to-do-with-YOUTUBE-videos#1

6. Love this.  Technology just a tool?  Oxygen just an element!

http://www.maggiehosmcgrane.com/2011/05/technology-as-tool-skill-or-goal.html

5. Interesting chart on traditional vs 21st century skills

http://teachpaperless.blogspot.com/2011/05/culture-part-ii.html

4. 70 tools in 70 minutes - a great slideshare project

http://www.slideshare.net/langwitches/70-tools-70-minutes?from=ss_embed

3. 50 ways to integrate technology

http://goo.gl/FVHk

2. 5 coolest google search HACKS you didn’t know about

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-coolest-google-search-hacks-realized-existed/

1. How do we prepare kids for jobs we don’t know about yet

http://www.good.is/post/how-do-we-prepare-kids-for-jobs-we-can-t-imagine-yet-teach-imagination/

Videos of the week!

Great book: Patrick Lencioni - THE FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM

Pale Blue dot

Here’s to the students who refused to be standardized

Howard Gardner on Digital Youth

Should teachers make more money?

http://jeffthomastech.com/blog/?p=10268&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TechThePlunge+%28Tech+the+Plunge%29

Will Richardson, a leader in edtech and his thoughts on the 21st century learner

What can education learn from Hip-Hop

http://socialelearning.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/what-education-should-be-like/

6th graders and Typewith.me

I have been teaching "note taking" as my reading strategy this week and was seeking a way to get kids to collaboratively take notes.  After much debate and consideration I decided to use typewith.me.  We have already used googledocs so much I felt it was time to show students what else is out there....

This lesson was so much fun for the kids and me.  We had a blast, the room was completely silent with intermiten bursts of laughter.  Every kid was engaged and was BY FAR the best lesson.  I often get scared that something won't work or that kids won't like it, it all worked out, kids loved it, they had fun and they practiced a new skill.  We will finish the products on Friday.

Lesson Plan

1. Teach note taking as a skill by completing lesson 43 in the daybook activity.
2. Give feedback on lesson 43.
3. Teach note taking in the content area by giving them a section of a textbook and asking them to write a two column response. (How to)
4. Give feedback on determining supporting detail to a concept.
5. Have students read an article and publicly organize their thoughts on what they feel is important.

Set Up

1. Copies of Lesson 43 in daybook.
2. Copies of content area textbook (I used two pages from my science textbook from Prentice Hall)
3. Copies of article to read and take notes on
4. Reserve the mobil lab
5. limit number of students per document to increase collaboration (see image below)

Evidence of student work

Go to the following links see what they did, or watch my screencast below: (Directions and scoring guide for the activity located on the typewith.me document.)

TypeWith.me- 9Ubzoia7YE

TypeWith.me- FcRtEOCOoY

TypeWith.me- Idx0KajBdg

TypeWith.me- TNXdyLVRYr

Social Media

A couple great videos to get you thinking.

Why do we connect?  I know I do this simply to try to help other people grow and develop.  This also challenges me to think of new ways to interact with the world around me.  I want to be a better teacher and leader.  How can I do that without reflecting and conversing about what's best for kids, what's best for education.  I just can't make an impact on the world, thinking and interacting only locally.  We have to as a society be willing to put ourselves out there and take a risk.  RIght now I have two followers, two people that check this blog.  Who knows where this blog may lead, who it may inspire, who it may help.  That's why I connect!

Why Do We Connect? from Shelly Terrell on Vimeo.

Thank you SHELLY!



Need a connection to use Twitter, find out how here!

Connecting in a Globalized World through Social Media

View more presentations from Shelly Terrell.

Primary Pad

Looks, like etherpad, works like etherpad, but it's not!  It's better!

Check out Primary pad!


Primarypad - Etherpad Guide from ian addison on Vimeo.

What is Wallwisher?

So there are many cool resources for working together on a project or gaining support for a task or idea.  I found this one really cool and has limitless possibilities for collaboration.  Check out http://www.wallwisher.com/ .

What is it?  It's a website that create a public wall that you can then point people to to make comments either publicly or anonymously.  Very cool!  Check it out!