June 2012
3 posts
Tomes Away From Home: Preps and Class Schedules →
tomesawayfromhome:
How many preps do teachers usually have at your school? What’s your class schedule like? What’re the hours of your school day?
At my school, we start at 7:25 and go till 2:20 everyday except Wednesday, when the kids get out at 1:20 (I think this allows for professional development). We have a 7…
Next year:
School is from 8-3, but I’m required to be there 30...
Things I don't want to deal with today
Figuring out month-to-month rent (so much more expensive! Just one month!)
Figuring out movers for my move in 6 weeks
Delta changing my flight times to get to camp…and no longer being able to take the shuttle to camp because my flight now gets in TWO hours later
Jillian making my legs ache (taking a week off for my birthday was not the best plan)
Things I don’t mind today:
...
My summer reading list
I’m avoiding my capstone (wahhhh it’s all I have left of grad school and I don’t wanna do it), so I put together my summer reading list:
The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton): I’ll be teaching it next spring. I should probably read it.
Uglies (Scott Westerfield): I read it in my YA Lit class, but I need to re-read it because it’s on my kids’ summer reading list.
The...
Even the stars—they burn
Some even fall to the Earth
We got a lot to learn
God knows we’re worth it
No, I won’t give up.
Jason Mraz, in an incredibly humanizing role, talks about writing “I Won’t Give Up” before performing it live. I’ve been loving on this song for a couple of weeks now, and it’s pretty sweet to hear about his process...
Video purportedly shows NYC student making out... →
jbizzle329:
girlwithalessonplan:
1. Why the hell is this national news? Fox was notorious for this, but now you too, MSNBC? Why not some touching end-of-year story about teachers giving their all, or losing their jobs STILL because of the economy or unjust legislation.
2. Not only does this story reek of character assassination on the teacher in question, but it’s another example of the...
May 2012
63 posts
3 tags
Confession: If you’re a teacher (of any age students, but particularly K-12) and you show cleavage in any of your professional domains (real life, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, gchat picture), I harshly judge you. I also question your teaching ability, even though cleavage and effectiveness may not be directly related.
Update for clarification here.
Culturally Relevant Lesson: Harry Potter
Because there seems to be a call for more lesson plans on Tumblr, I thought I’d post the one I wrote for my final in my culturally relevant teaching class.
Context: Next year I will be teaching in a diverse school that has over 50 countries and 17 states represented within the student body. Although it is a private school, the school offers scholarships and draws in students from around the...
1 tag
important shit
haygirlhay:
heywhysoserious:
is there a way to uh, NOT be found on Tumblr via facebook? cause i don’t need the world finding my blog…
Um yeah, isn’t that the whole point of tumblr? To return to a time when facebook was fun and not riddled with colleagues and parents? Last thing I need is all the stupids discovering my hiding spot.
Get off my lawn blog.
For real. Anyone know how this...
Done with graduate classes!
Now all that stands between me and my M.Ed is my capstone (due 2 weeks from Friday). It’s so weird to think I’m done with school for good! After 18 years of sitting in classes, I’m finally going to lead my own :)
New life goal: Return to Italy before I turn 30.
Manageable, right?
1 tag
This is part of how I celebrated my birthday yesterday.
Why, yes, that is a dog bowl filled with beer. A local bar has a tradition where you can drink this on your birthday (for free! Look at me saving money!).
I drank it all (I think it’s the equivalent of 4-5 beers) in about an hour before I went to my birthday dinner. This represents only a smidgen of what I drank yesterday....
Not in Teacher School: Without a DeLorean →
mollyrockstar:
Teenagers literally have no understanding of cause and effect. They also do not understand the correct usage of the word literally. But I digress.
Students believe they can correct a semester’s worth of mistakes in a couple of days. They believe that a final or essay which is worth 10% of their grade can compensate for having a 26% overall. They also have problems with math,...
Lessons from Abroad: Singapore's "holistic... →
lessonsfromabroad:
Singapore, often one of the top-performing countries on international assessments, is moving away from memorizing facts to an emphasis on creativity in learning, reports the BBC.
So what does this look like? For one of the country’s top schools, it meant taking a “learning journey” through a…
There is a woman from Singapore in my M.Ed program; we enjoy picking her...
What would you do if you heard a student say the n-word in the hallway? Does your race and the student’s race play into your decision? What if the student isn’t your student? What kind of a responsibility do you have to say something? Do you believe the n-word is a part of a student’s cultural identity? What would you do?
“I hold up a handful of wooden coffee stirrers and say to the class: “I took...”
– Vocabulary Is Where You Find It. By Bob Greenman
Great article on teaching vocabulary.
http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/teachersatwork/vocabulary-is-where-you-find-it-2012/
(via englishteacheronline)
Love this.
(via everyfiredies)
LOVE ADORE this!
1 tag
Perspective
Today some of my friends and I found out one of my high school classmates passed away.
This is the first death in my high school graduating class. While it is incredible to see the outpouring of support from people who haven’t seen or spoken to each other in years, it’s also a little terrifying because I think we all know that this is only the beginning. As we grow older, we’ll...
As a follow-up to my previous post, NBC Nightly News did a little segment on our eating habits throughout the day. There are a few infographics on this page that are interesting at the very least.
The infographics shed light on what we eat, when we eat, where we eat, and who is eating what.
I'm educating myself
Until recently I didn’t realize just how little I knew about food, eating, exercise, and weight.
I started watching HBO’s miniseries (can it even be called that? mini-documentary-series?) Weight of the Nation this weekend when there was not much else to do on a rainy day. I’ve learned so much! I’m excited for everything I now know, but I’m also a little angry. Why...
Being an adult sometimes
2 tags
I like the DVD a lot! I’m doing 30 Day Shred, which as 3 different workouts (level 1, 2, and 3; all get increasingly harder). Each workout is just 20 minutes long, and all you need for them is a pair of hand weights.
[[MORE]]
Jillian is tough. I’ve only seen a couple of episodes of the Biggest Loser over the past few years, so I knew she would be tough (she’s much tougher on...
2 tags
In case you were wondering
Jillian Michaels is still kicking my butt.
Population Pedagogically Pensive: "Sick" days @... →
populationpensive:
We had a incredible number of teachers call in today last minute. This left our poor secretary to figuring out subs and such. The worst part is that apparently some of them were supposed to be on a field trip and called in sick.
I think when there are only 14 days of school left, and you are…
I can see the benefits of a mental health day—taking a sick day when...
Ugh
A bad ending to an otherwise nice day:
Some jerk hit my car and drove off. I was parked in the mall parking lot (to get a birthday outfit for my birthday next week!), and I pulled into a spot next to a person who parked diagonally in the spot. As I got out of my car, I thought, “Oh, that person should have fun getting out of that spot.”
Well, apparently he* did. At my expense. When I...
RENT, Homophobia, and Students Who Regulate...
Before lunch today--
Kid 1: Man, I hope my college roommate isn't gay. I couldn't even handle that.
Kid 2: Why? They're not going to be interested in you.
Kid 1: But I'm cute...
Kid 2: It's not like gay people are actively recruiting new members. Being gay isn't any different than your skin color; it's not a choice. How'd you like it if your roommate hates black people?
Kid 1: That'd be wrong! And racist!
Kid 2: Well, how is that any different from you hating a gay roommate?
Kid 1 (unwilling to give up): Well, in RENT, when those two guys were kissing, that was the nastiest thing I've ever seen. How can they even be like that? People were walking out of the play and yelling about how nasty it was.
Kid 2: How successful do you think those people who walked out are going to be in college and the world? Do you really think they'll be surrounded only by people like them?
Kid 1: No...
Kid 2: Well, it's important to be open-minded and accepting of all people. What they do is none of your business and it's not your place to judge them, any more than the other way around. Didn't you learn anything from To Kill A Mockingbird? It's all about walking in someone else's skin. It's all about the Golden Rule.
Kid 3: How would you feel if you were kissing your girlfriend and our teacher said it was the nastiest thing she'd ever seen, huh? I don't know about you, but that would really hurt my feelings.
Kid 1: It'd hurt my feelings too. And I've got a gay cousin. I'd hate for someone to yell at her. She's family...
Kid 2 and Kid 3: DON'T YOU SEE? These scenarios are EXACTLY the same! Miss! Back us up here.
Me (quivering with excitement over what just happened): I think you're doing a fine job on your own.
Hmmm….which reading do I want to do for tomorrow?
1 tag
Scene: Wednesday night at the grocery to grab a few things for the rest of the week. No makeup on. Haven’t brushed my hair all day. I’m lucky I’m wearing my contacts.
I see a friend from college at the store with his brother. Impulsively, I yell his name and walk towards him in the aisle.
As I’m walking, I think to myself “Self, what is in your cart? Anything...
jbizzle329 asked: What's your BBQ sauce recipe?
TDD
What is your all-time favorite lesson to teach? What is the content & context? What does it look like? Why is it your favorite?
Team Teachers: I declare today a Teacher Dare Day! →
teamteachers:
Reblog the announcement!
Ask one question related to education on your tumblr for your followers to answer. Post the responses in one single post later.
Ask at LEAST 2 of the tumblrs in the education community a question in their ask box. It does not have to be related to education.
Please tag…
Wallwisher.com :: Words that stick →
roughdrafts1:
I came across this website and am thinking of ways to use it to interact with my students. I think I am going to create a wall and direct my students to it for a homework assignment. I think it might have some interesting applications for interacting with vocabulary, as well as posting thoughts about reading assignments.
Oh oh this is wonderful! It’s especially great for a...
3 tags
Worlds of Words! →
Check out this website for an overflowing resource of literature texts from around the world. It’s wonderful for teachers who are incorporating a Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP) perspective into the classroom.
On the website, you can search by region, age, or genre. The listings suggest book by name, give a brief summary, and include themes and other descriptors.
My school for next...
Someone Please Tell Me...
itssnix:
mdawnb:
How I’m supposed to cover the Cold War, Korean War, and Vietnam War…in ONE 85 minute class period. :/
Create a compare/contrast chart or activity. When you’ve got three things that fit into the same category [war], figure out why they are all the same and how they are different. :)
I smell a jigsaw coming up! You could have one group for each war, and give them a basic...
2 tags
Poor grammar is like poor plating. (I may have watched Iron Chef recently…stay with me for a minute.)
Poor plating: You might have some good flavors and foods on the plate, but I have to dig through the food to find the good stuff. It doesn’t look good, and I’m not going to want to eat something that looks like trash. I’d rather walk down the street to the fast food chain...
2 tags
Jillian Michaels has made my own legs revolt against the rest of my body. I’m pretty sure they’re ready to leave this whole body system relationship deal.
In retrospect, I never quite realized just (a) how much exercise I got in high school playing lacrosse (I thought that because our sport wasn’t quite as hardcore as say, football, we didn’t get as much...
10,000 teachers can get free posters urging... →
girlwithalessonplan:
revolutionizeed:
The Southern Poverty Law Center this week announced a partnership that will allow it to offer 10,000 teachers across the country free classroom posters that encourage students to get involved in their communities.
11 free posters. Great chance to stock up and cover your walls this summer!
Done and Done.
Yes yes!! I was a member of Facing History...
Abandoned Ellis Island hospitals are really cool on the inside (and really not scary at all). Also, they’re in the running to receive some money to restore them, so you can vote for them, if that’s your kind of thing.
barackobama:
“Same-sex couples should be able to get married.”—President Obama
Cool things I've learned about my family
I recently joined Ancestry.com (but only for 2 weeks! I’m going to cancel before they charge me!). My grandmother has been a huge ancestry person for a decade or so. She’s shown me pictures of farmland that my family owns/owned and such, but it was never that interesting to me. This stuff, however, is interesting to me.
One line of my family I traced back to the Pilgrims. Basically,...
2 tags
Activities for the end of the school year →
Now that the “heavy lifting” months of teaching are over, what DO you do with the last few weeks of school? If you are running on fumes and in need of suggestions for wrapping up your school year on a positive note, read on for my favorite ways to make the most of the remaining class time.
Write a letter to the incoming class.
Like most teachers, my first year was spent treading water, and...
My Favorite Liar →
iamlittlei:
gjmueller:
What made Dr. K memorable was a gimmick he employed that began with his introduction at the beginning of his first class:
“Now I know some of you have already heard of me, but for the benefit of those who are unfamiliar, let me explain how I teach. Between today until the class right before finals, it is my intention to work into each of my lectures … one lie. Your...
3 tags
Shenanigans!
When introducing the course today, my professor said a few memorable things:
1. [Reading the syllabus] “…all work must be typed. Really? I can’t believe we still put that in the syllabus. I don’t think people even know how to handwrite papers anymore.”
2. “When doing your readings for class, I invite shenanigans. If you’re reading something, and you...
1 tag
Today begins my last class as a grad student.
2 tags
Praise!
In researching how to talk to kids for a recent project, I came across some information on how to praise students.
Short backstory: Kids can have (and do have) either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.
Fixed mindset: Kids believe intelligence is fixed, and they are either smart (in a particular subject or overall) or they are dumb. They do not believe their effort contributes to their grades....