Welcome to the virtual home of Mrs.
Lind-Sherman!
ABOUT MRS. LIND-SHERMAN
EDUCATIONAL CONSULTANT
CLASSROOM ENRICHMENT
CAREER DAY
ORATORICAL CONTEST
MONTHLY ASSEMBLIES
PROFICIENCY IN ENGLISH
PROGRAM (PEP)
PUBLIC SPEAKING FOR
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES IN THE
CLASSROOM
THEMATIC LEARNING
SUBSTITUTE TEACHING
PARTY PLANNER
ABOUT MRS.
LIND-SHERMAN
A teacher for
over twenty years, I live in
For seven years between my first and second marriages I was a single parent and had many of the problems financially and emotionally that most single parents have. These experiences helped me grow stronger and very determined to help others who are in similar need. Because my own children suffered as children of divorce I am very sensitive to the emotional needs of children and will always treat any child with caring and respect. I am also sensitive to the needs of parents and do what I can to ease their worries about their children’s academic and social progress.
Vaughn and I started a foundation several years ago called the Martin Luther King School Dream Foundation. This foundation is aimed at helping children go beyond high school and to get training in a technical, community college or four-year school so that they can achieve greater success in life. The foundation gives post secondary scholarships to children who have attended MLK for at least two years and have successfully submitted an application. Grades are not as important as an essay that the students write. Like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. the students must have a dream for themselves and/or the world, and be able to express that dream in their application essay. The foundation continues even through the school has closed. To learn more about the foundation, check out the website, www.mlkdream.com
EDUCATIONAL CONSULTANT
With twenty years as a classroom teacher and five years as an instructional assistant I have had many educational experiences that can be shared. They fall into the following categories and will be explored in greater detail on other pages.
- Classroom Enrichment
- Proficiency in English Program (P.E.P.)
- Career Days
- Oratorical Contests
- Monthly Assemblies
- Public Speaking for Elementary School Students
- Multiple Intelligences Lesson Plan Training
- Thematic Learning
CLASSROOM ENRICHMENT
Make
learning come alive for children as they travel around the world with Mrs.
Lind-Sherman. Study the geography and cultural differences of the world and its
people – for example,
- Turn your room into an archeological dig.
- Write your name in hieroglyphics on a cartouche
- Become an Egyptian jeweler and make a scarab necklace
- Make a mummy and put it in a sarcophagus.
- Working with a small paper map, trace the
and discuss the
Obviously you would want to share information through books, videos and the internet to give the students input for this educational experience. Brainstorming what they know before starting and what they learned after completing the project is very satisfying to all concerned.
The
ultimate educational experience occurs when you put your students in charge of various centers based on their
learning, invite other classrooms in, and have your students teach the visiting
students what they learned. This can be
an in-house all-day field trip to
Note: Similar experiences are available for a most, if not all, of the world’s countries. Southwest Desert Day can provide another wonderful activity where they learn all about the desert flora and fauna, make research reports on the animals, study the soil, learn about the native tribes of the region, make clay pots, dig for gold or treasure of the area, eat cactus jelly on crackers, etc. The possibilities are endless when you let your imagination soar. Learning can easily be tied to district standards/EALRs in social studies and science.
CAREER DAY
Help prepare your students for the world of work. I and others trained in P.E.P will teach your Career Day Team how to:
- arrange for speakers (
- choose both parents and non parents as career speakers.
- provide both pre-career day and follow-up student work packets K-5
- train students in appropriate questioning.
- train teachers in setting up the classroom.
- teach social amenities related to career guests in the building.
- set up a hospitality room for guests.
- arrange a school wide assembly to introduce career guests.
- align the experience with district standards
- publicize the event in-house and in the community.
ORATORICAL
CONTEST
Watch their
self esteem grow as you teach your students how to stand and deliver a poem,
fable or individual work in front of the entire student body. I and others
trained in PEP will
teach your Oratorical Contest Team how to put on a successful oratorical
contest step-by-step. Your teachers and
team will learn how to
- divide the contest into poetry, fables and individual work on grade levels.
- provide challenging poetry and fables to students for memorization
- encourage all students to write their own selections for presentation.
- put on a pre-contest assembly so everyone will know what
will to expect.
- have
classroom tryouts to ascertain finalists for the contest
- choose and invite three judges to judge the categories.
- choose non-classroom faculty members to be assistants.
- award trophies and ribbons to the winners.
- provide certificates for all participants.
- write thank you letters to judges after the contest.
MONTHLY ASSEMBLIES
Groups of students who misbehave in public can be a distracting and embarrassing when, in fact, they simply don’t understand what is acceptable behavior. Good behavior and the expectation of that behavior can and should be taught. There is a very specific way to teach students how to behave at assemblies and in public. They learn how to correctly enter and exit the multipurpose room and to go up on or leave the stage when performing. They learn what appropriate audience behavior looks like, such as sitting quietly, keeping their hands and feet to themselves. They learn how to use the microphone, and older students learn how to be emcees for events. They are taught the difference between expressing appreciation at a fine arts theater versus at a sporting event. Students who have been taught correct assembly behavior carry that behavior into other areas such as field trips to community or in-house performances. They can also be instructed as a group in what will be happening at events such as Career Day or an Oratorical Contest. Assemblies are a great way for students to perform in front of their peers. They may be trying out a poem as an individual or a group while getting ready for something like a Black history celebration. It is absolutely true that parents who rarely visit school will come if their children are in a performance. This is a good time to meet them and encourage them to participate in other ways such as joining the PTA. Monthly assemblies accomplish the following tasks:
- Teach appropriate assembly and other large group etiquette
- Provide a venue for large group instruction
- Showcase student talent
- Encourage parent involvement
PROFICIENCY IN ENGLISH PROGRAM (PEP)
Training is available for school wide adoption of P.E.P. The training is aimed at getting students ready for the world of work, which is actually an educational goal. The Proficiency in English Program (PEP) comes out the Los Angeles Public Schools in the Watts-Compton area. Administrators and teachers learned that many minority students were failing standardized tests because of a basic ignorance of how to speak and write standard English and its connection to cultural differences. Through monthly assemblies students were taught appropriate behavior, lessons and poetry. Teachers were trained to expect students to use standard English both in speaking and writing, (school talk) while also respecting diverse ways of speaking away from school (home talk). They also worked school-wide in exposing students to word development on a challenging level, as well as words relating to careers. Calling this the “cash language” or language of the board room, they insisted that students speak and write in standard English, using complete sentences orally and in writing. When performing poetry or stories written in Black English it was made clear that the selection was in that language. They instituted career days to educate children in what they could do in the world of work and oratorical contests to teach children how to perform in front of others and to value the culture and history reflected in poetry, fables and stories. Teaching strategies that work at all levels were used by the teachers. They included a form of direct instruction called structured practice, which teaches concepts and definitions through a very specific kind of repetition, and daily oral language which enriches and expands the minds of students to make the understanding of new language their own. For example, through structured practice students can learn exactly what a passport is – a document that allows the bearer to travel to and from another country. With daily oral language, the student learns how to use the passport and can fully understand its implications beyond a mere definition. Parental involvement was fostered and developed. A parent support room was an integral part of the school setting. The results were amazing
All children can benefit from P.E.P. and teachers trained in
“the P.E.P. way” stand ready to help you become a P.E.P. school.To
summarize this program, during staff development in P.E.P. you will be trained
in critical thinking skills, thematic
teaching, vocabulary expansion, African-American and other ethnic cultures and history, core literature and ethnic
literature, developing oral and written language, English grammar and standard
English usage, self-esteem building techniques, instructional oratorical
contests, career education,
instructional assemblies, increasing parent involvement, and more.
PUBLIC SPEAKING FOR ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL STUDENTS
Children as young as kindergarten can learn techniques that allow them to speak successfully in front of an audience. The following will be taught:
· Eye contact
· Voice Projection
· Posture
· Content
· Program Direction
·
Social amenities of public speaking
The students will learn how to emcee a program. They will learn that emcee means mistress or master of ceremonies. The emcees will learn how to introduce and express thanks to speakers. Phrases such as give him/her a warm welcome, give him/her a round of applause, give him/her a big hand will be used when introducing speakers. Speakers will learn how to deliver a presentation, and ask for questions and comments. The audience members will learn how to listen attentively and learn the kinds of questions and comments to make. All will learn and practice social amenities, such as please, thank you, etc. If a microphone is available they will be taught how to use and be
comfortable with it.
MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES IN THE
CLASSROOM
Using the seven intelligences (multiple intelligences) is now widely accepted as a “best practices” way of teaching. The seven are:
- Linguistic – word intelligence
- Logical-mathematical – number intelligence
- Spatial – artistic intelligence
- Bodily-Kinesthetic – physical intelligence
- Musical – musical intelligence
- Interpersonal – social intelligence
- Intrapersonal – Learn by myself intelligence
- An eighth intelligence – naturalist – is seen as experience in the natural world.
We all have
these capabilities within us, but some are more dominant than others. Because we learn via different strengths, the
best lessons are those which incorporate as many of the intelligences as possible.
A possible lesson plan on studying the country of
- Linguistic – Reading about the country and people, both non-fiction and fiction
- Logical-Mathematical – Graphing the exports of the country and map work
- Spatial
– Making a mask based on those made by the
- Bodily-Kinesthetic - Doing an African dance
- Musical – Making a drum and drumming to the dance
- Interpersonal – Working together to make a feast
- Intrapersonal - Reflecting and writing a paragraph about what you learned
THEMATIC LEARNING
Providing themes for learning is motivational for students. It can be class wide, grade wide or school wide and as simple or involved as the planners would like. Using Whales as an example, one can use multiple intelligences as well as more traditional learning modes to do an in depth study of whales on our planet. Reading as many books as possible about whales, students can then make whale books, do whale crafts, work on whale math, participate in whale centers and even turn the classroom/school into a giant habitat for sea life where whales are the main species. If school wide, students could join together and make a life-size paper mache replica of a whale to be placed in a hall or multi-purpose room which would give perspective when comparing the sizes of whales and humans.
SUBSTITUTE
TEACHING
Please call
the
PARTY
PLANNER
Parties With A Purpose is a great form of entertainment for children when having a birthday or “coming of age” party – l3th birthday, l6th birthday, etc.
Parents select a theme for the party, either with their child’s input or as a surprise and turn the entire event over to the planning team. Children may come in costume. A story would be told to set the theme, with activities and refreshments to follow. The price of the party would depend on length and level of planning for the party. The following is a list of parties. Special request themes may be considered:
African Adventure Party
Carnival Party
Cinco de Mayo and Pinata Party
Dinosaur Dig Party
Favorite Princess Party (Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, etc.)
Gourmet Cooking Adventure
Karaoke Party
My Little Pony or Pet Party
Miss Manners Modeling and Makeup (13th Birthday Party)
(Each girl
would be photographed
with makeup for beginning portfolio)
Mixed Up Menu Party
Mummies
and More about Ancient
Oui, Oui, Monsieur – A
Pirates
of the
Sponge Bob Beach Party with wienie roast and s’mores
Super Hero Party
Teddy Bear Tea Party
Thomas Train Party