Thursday, June 30, 2016

TOPSS Resource Manual for New Teachers of High School Psychology

The APA/TOPSS released a manual for new psychology teachers, and it looks like it's full of great resources! See the announcement below for details.

"New high school psychology teachers may have a number of questions about how to proceed with instruction in their first psychology teaching assignment. What is the best way to choose a textbook? How do teachers find substantive and effective activities? How can teachers find quality support resources? Questions like these are just a few that are repeatedly posted to listservs when new teachers are looking for help. The purpose of this document is to present new high school psychology teachers with some resources and helpful suggestions from teachers with many years of teaching experience. This resource begins with suggestions for preparing to teach psychology, textbook selection, course-pacing formats, and lesson planning - the underpinnings of an effective psychology class. The next set of topics address specific issues faced by high school psychology teachers and are designed to help new teachers be proactive when deciding how to run their class, make rules, and make daily ethical decisions. The authors believe that this resource will prove very useful to teachers new to the teaching of psychology. It can facilitate their being able to approach their new assignment with more confidence and poise, equipped with strategies for effective instruction."

Resource Manual for New Teachers of Psychology


posted by Rob McEntarffer
reposted by Chuck Schallhorn


Substantial Psychology Paper Assignment

Earlier in the summer, Eric Castro, one of our exceptional San Francisco Psychology teachers wrote
on a listserv a project he was working on for his social science department. That list is pretty inactive, so I wanted to post his request here.

Here is the request Eric posted:
In response to Steve Jones' and David Lane's questions, I've published what prompted my original solicitation:

The short version is that my Social Science department has surveyed and interviewed eight constituencies about our course offerings and curriculum: grammar school teachers, 9th graders, 12th graders, other departments at our own school, recent alumni, other high schools, college professors, and employers around the San Francisco Bay Area. From those has emerged two needs: greater ethnic and cultural diversity across our course offerings, and better preparation for college-level research and writing.

Eric Castro 
Social Science Faculty 
St Ignatius College Prep, San Francisco

Please post your ideas and feedback in the comments.




Posted by Chuck Schallhorn

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Psychology Shopping: Megapost

Are you ready to do some shopping?  If so, below is a list of places you can find wonderful items for your own personal collection and/or your classroom.

Please be sure to add any places or ideas in the comments!


Books

I will do a separate post on all of these at some point in the future, but here are a few pictures of my bookshelves-I can recommend nearly all of these; I have not gotten to all of them (and this is not even all my psych books)--sorry for the mess, I just recently moved:










PsychKits

http://psychkits.com/ 
Includes inversion goggles, activities, and many other resources






































Amazon.com

The THSP Psych Store--lots of possibilities

Lots of different brain models

Psychology Games

Psychology Jewelry--seriously, this is a thing!






Apps

iScore5 Psychology App
https://www.facebook.com/iScore5APPsych/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iscore5-ap-psych-2016/id1084611907?mt=8

Psych Hero
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/psychero-test-prep-for-ap/id492497083?mt=8


Psychology Posters


Holstee Manifesto Poster
https://www.holstee.com/collections/all/products/holstee-manifesto-poster 

If you can print out your own posters (and possibly have them laminated by your school), Pinterest has numerous possibilities:
https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=psychology%20posters&rs=typed&0=psychology%7Ctyped&1=posters%7Ctyped


From the APA, Classroom Posters--downloadable
http://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/undergrad/classroom-posters.aspx


Anatomical Prints
Skull Anatomy
http://anatomicalprints.com/human_skull_anatomy_chart.html

Anatomy Warehouse
Spinal Nerves
https://www.anatomywarehouse.com/spinal-nerves-anatomical-chart-a-102614

Organs of the Ear
https://www.anatomywarehouse.com/the-ear-organs-of-hearing-and-balance-anatomical-chart-a-102574

Brain Poster-$11
https://www.anatomywarehouse.com/the-brain-anatomical-chart-a-102567

Brain Model
https://www.anatomywarehouse.com/deluxe-human-brain-anatomy-model-a-100130

Brain Model with Arteries-$344
https://www.anatomywarehouse.com/deluxe-brain-anatomy-model-with-arteries-9-parts-a-100472

Giant Brain Model-$467
https://www.anatomywarehouse.com/giant-regional-brain-anatomy-model-a-103132


Teachers Discovery Store-Psychology Page

Social Studies dot com
They have a little bit of everything, but especially books and DVDs. They tend to be a bit more expensive

Cafe Press Psychology Jewelry

Cafe Press All Gifts





The Psychology Shop
for lots of different ideas including Jung and Freud finger puppets--don't even think about commenting on this one
Freudian Slippers

Zazzle Psychology Gifts


Etsy Psychology Gifts

Sniffy the Virtual Rat (Lite Version)


Again, if I have missed anything, please leave a note in the comments or email me at thspblog@gmail.com 



posted by Chuck Schallhorn


Saturday, June 25, 2016

NETOP meeting is scheduled for 8/10 in Hopkinton, MA

If you're in New England, life isn't just about going to the Cape this summer. (Is that a thing? I'm trying to sound hip, here.) Your summer plans MUST include a visit to Hopkinton High School on August 10th to hang out with Mike Hamilton, Maria Vita, Michael Sullivan and ...you know...a Harvard Psychologist. That's right - you get to learn from and hang out with Jeremy Wolfe, PhD!

Information on Dr. Wolfe here:
Jeremy Wolfe is principal investigator and head of Harvard University's Visual Attention Lab, as well as Professor of Ophthalmology and Radiology at Harvard Medical School. He is also a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT and an Adjunct Associate Professor in Cognitive and Neural Systems at Boston University.


The fifth annual conference promises to be wicked. Details and registration information here 

---Posted by Amy Ramponi


$10K available to teachers of psychology


That's not a typeo. The American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Psychological Foundation (APF) have $10,000 available for teachers of psychology to create networks, host a psych fair, or create a "psychology quiz bowl" with students.

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS APPLY. A really simple application process could net you serious cash to use for conference food, honorarium for a speaker, for door prizes, tee shirts, and other related costs.

Here is all the info you need to apply: http://www.apa.org/apf/funding/psychology-teacher-network.aspx?tab=2

The deadline for these grants is coming up quick - JULY 1.

--- Posted by Amy Ramponi

Friday, June 17, 2016

AP Psychology Exam - equated across years!

I learned something interesting (to me) about the AP psychology exam via Twitter: the exam is "equated" across years, meaning that the difficulty of the exam is kept constant. This means that if students do "better" on one year vs. another, we can interpret that improvement as a learning gain.




posted by Rob McEntarffer