February 2011
29 posts
9 tags
Looking at immigration? Check out the linguistic...
Did you know “robot” is actually borne from the Czech word for “compulsory labor”?
Words are very cool things. Not only do they teach with their meanings and their sounds, they teach with their origins.
If you’ve ever looked at multiculturalism or immigration in your classroom, try an exercise that can incorporate geography, literacy, and technology in one easy...
3 tags
Seeing signs from Wisconsin that border on...
in a bad way. Really, can comparisons to Hitler and insinuations of totalitarianism and dictatorships do anything to help our case? To me they seem like bad publicity; at least, I would not want to be associated with them. Does that make me a traitor to the cause?
The system that has allowed this all to happen is terribly flawed, but this inflammation, drawing parallels to something it is...
“…the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world,...”
– Steve Jobs
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“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive...”
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
(Whoever you are, whatever your side, whatever your fight, look at your motivations. Be sure that there is no hate there. If there is hate, turn it to anger or outrage; but do not let it stay as hate. Hate is good for nothing, and for no one. Hate is the antithesis...
4 tags
“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“The solution to adult problems tomorrow depends on large measure upon how our...”
– Margaret Mead
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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the...”
– Margaret Mead
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On Educational Crisis
We need sanity.
Demolishing teachers’ unions is not the answer.
Short-sighted solutions are not the answer — whether they are from politicians looking for quick fixes, or teachers’ unions who refuse to concede and lose the war for the sake of the battle.
Comparing protests in Wisconsin to the riots in Tunisia, or Walker to Mussolini, is not sane, it is a reaction borne of...
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The current conflict over TFA teachers vs. more traditionally-prepared teachers, conflated with the struggles in Ohio and Wisconsin, makes me incredibly sad for the state of both education and educational politics. Though…politics and education are more or less inextricable at this point — at least, one cannot teach and ignore the politics; it seems some days that...
2 tags
(Giving my tutoring student a pre-test on his spelling words)
Me: Farther. The house is farther down the road.
Him: I know this one!
Me: Excellent- (I check, and it's perfect.) That's great spelling!
Him: Ask me how I know.
Me: How did you know?
Him: Because it's "fart"..."her."
7 tags
I love the layout I’m using, except I’ve just now realized it makes many of my posts nigh on unreadable. Well, form does not come before function…
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Science is Everywhere: Cookies and Milk and...
(I would accompany this with photos but the skim milk has gone bad.)
I am a slightly neurotic person when it comes to food. I read nutrition labels and try to track percentages in my head. Ingredient-scanning is important when I have to avoid peanut ingredients. And I am very, very picky with my cookies-and-milk.
Yes, Miss Goodman has a system. Reduced fat Oreos, submerged in skim milk...
6 tags
More Thoughts on "As Good As Anybody"
Just a note: I actually found this book by chance while browsing the Civil Rights Movement books in the juvenile non-fiction section at my local library. The happy coincidence, and part of why I picked this one in particular, is that I had already seen some of Raul Colón’s beautiful illustrations from “As Good As Anybody” in the “Monsters and Miracles” exhibit of the...
6 tags
School board to teach responsible cyber navigation →
girlwithalessonplan:
Right now, in any Lester B. Pearson School Board school, Internet powerhouses such as Facebook and Twitter don’t exist.
They are blocked out, as is the case in most schools everywhere.
But the Pearson board is hoping it can eventually trust its students to navigate some of those sites as it takes its first big steps toward preparing them to be responsible digital...
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3 tags
Pop Culture: How do you keep up with your...
I admit it — I am behind. I have a hard time keeping track of who the heck Nicki Minaj is or what the new pokemon are or what video games are popular. Are Silly Bandz still big anymore, or did that fade out already? What is with the Monster energy drink swag? Do kids still like Miley Cyrus? What High School Musical are we on now?
When I’m not in the classroom or directly...
I have a growing obsession with binder clips.
adiemtocarpe:
positivelypersistentteach:
ahamoments:
And post-its/stickies.
Welcome to teaching.
And thumbtacks/colored chalk…
Writing pads, for notes home. Those are my downfall.
3 tags
A bit of Envy for all your Love
Valentine’s Day is probably an exhausting but joyous activity for most teachers.
It’s about making sure everyone has something, having enough valentines to go around, helping students spell things like “love” and “mine,” and getting keepsakes you may well keep forever. And as they get older? Oh, the hormones. Oh, the ups and downs over the course of one...
4 tags
Because GirlWithALessonPlan Made Me Curious:
What is considered a “poor” district? I’m not trying to insinuate that there is a “legitimately” poor; a student on free or reduced lunch or receiving other special services in regards to SES does not count more or less depending on how many others there are like them. I’m just wondering where other people draw that line. I’m sure it varies depending on...
1 tag
I cannot tell you the amount of bizarre things I...
Him: You want this spork?
Me: Yeah! Put it in my backpack. I need a new one for school. Someone broke my other one.
Him: Why do you need a spork? Because it's a blended word example?
I know so little on this, in fact -
- that for some reason I kept writing Kobe Bryant when I meant LeBron James. Does Kobe Bryant even play basketball? Man, I’m going to do some research on sports other than soccer before I get my own class …
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5 tags
This is Just How He Gets.
"You read about LeBron James?"
"Nope."
"I thought you read his biography. Your mom told me you learned all kinds of cool things about him."
"Nope."
"Tell me something about LeBron James."
"I don't know who that is."
"You don't remember anything about LeBron James?"
"I don't know who that is."
"Well I guess we'll have to read the whole biography again together!"
"...no! No! I know who he is! I know LeBron James!"
(Fixed because he does, but I apparently don't.)
(A while later I did a little art to get on my student's good side -- he was having a very rough day. Of course, he got his smile by telling me that he had no idea who that was supposed to be and that I couldn't draw.)
"Oh, ok. I guess I'll throw it out then, I don't really want to keep it."
"No! You're not allowed."
"I thought it wasn't good?"
"It's mine."
"Oh, because I drew it here it's yours?"
"Yep. I own everything you draw here. It's mine."
I am going to get just under two hours of sleep for the day that never ends (read: Thursday in itself, plus a GSA event until 10pm). Why?
My Teach for America application is glitching and telling me my resume is three pages long instead of two.
I’m afraid to just hit submit because I know it’s under the two-page limit, but it doesn’t know that, and I can’t have the...
5 tags
Legislation: Teachers should be able to grade... →
girlwithalessonplan:
saintloco:
An excerpt
As lawmakers continue to debate education reform, Florida Rep. Kelli Stargel has a new idea: give teachers a break and grade parents instead.
Stargel has submitted a bill that would let teachers grade parent performance along with student outcomes, reports CNN.
Stargel said that parents should be just as involved in the education process as the...
7 tags
Accommodating Learning Disabilities and... →
I’m so glad to see this. As a general Elementary Education major it feels like I am never equipped enough to work with learning disabilities in my classroom — it is something that is covered with our Special Education majors extensively, but barely even mentioned to use at all outside of the context of general diversity in a classroom. Yes, we’re taught about different kinds of...
1 tag
I didn't forget!
My friend Devin is coming out here this weekend (he = city, I = island) to help me do a VIDEO post on the Fox in Socks game! I figure it will be much cooler (and more entertaining) than a text explanation (and let you laugh at our flubs).
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Conversation between 2nd grader and student...
Student: Mr. [last name]? Do you like girls?
Teach: Umm... yeah, do you?
Student: Uhh, no.. I like myself.
Teach: Good! I mean if someone's gotta like you, it might as well be yourself.
Student: I bet I know who you like.
Teach: Who?
Student: You like [original poster's co-op]'s student teacher. You keep going into her room! And she's always looking at you!
Teach: Go get my mail.
Hilarious. THEY ALWAYS KNOW.
(Even when there's nothing going on. For some reason, a lot of our students at City Year though my supervisor and I were married because we were friends and hung out around each other.)
