Art and Silly Hats

Art teacher • wearer of comical headgear Everything is my favorite thing!

[room12art]

[room12art]

So. Old.

Oh wow, nothing is making me feel older right now than watching Party of Five (thanks Hulu) and realizing like everyone on this show is 40 at least and I was like 11 when I cried forever because Charlie doesn't know how to love?

[weavemama]

Here are some tips on how to further use your voices about the election results and hopefully make a change. 

[queerlaurabarton]

charlietheskonk:

charlietheskonk:

charlietheskonk:

charlietheskonk:

in my preschool class we’re holding “class president of the day” elections this week.  we already elected our first female president on monday, even though one of the boy’s campaign promises was to “bring jewels” to the classroom.

tuesday: we talked about the real election happening today. one child says she hopes hillary clinton wins and all of her classmates chime in with sober agreements. one boy says voting for the drumpf “would not be a very good idea.”

they elected the other female candidate today in our mock election, so she won over the jewels boy and the other boy, who said he would make bracelets for the entire class. my students are surprisingly practical, seeing as they voted for the candidate who would clean the school and help them with their work.

once president, she did do those things, but also punched one of her constituents into the sandbox, so, i mean … she’s sort of a typical politician i guess

wednesday: the children announced tensely to me that trump won the real election. one boy said, “i still don’t like him, but we can’t say we hate him, because then we would be saying we hate the president.”

i said that was true, and that saying we hate him sounds a lot like something trump would say. they nodded and continued to help the toddler class students get their snack plates to the table without dropping their apple slices.

they elected one of the girls again, so she served her second term by helping her friends button their art smocks before we made our galaxy paintings. (because if you think i’m gonna create an art lesson plan to focus any more attention on this shitshow of an election, you are wrong.)

neither of the boy candidates have stood much of a chance in this race so far. one of them came to me and said he was rethinking his campaign promises, and could he make a new poster

he got a paper and wrote a huge list of ways that he would help keep all the children safe, including reminding them to use walking feet and not to touch broken glass. then he volunteered to work in the toddler room and cleaned up all of their messes, and moved all the shelves in my room so he could clean behind them.

i’m feeling so hopeless right now, but these children remind me that there is a future and they. are. it.

thursday: today i was very pleased. our president today is the little boy who made changes to his campaign promises. he also wore tyrannosaurus rex foot slippers. when the voters were shaking his hand to congratulate him on his victory, one said, “good job, and thank you for having monster feet”

he watched everyone like a hawk to make sure they were being safe, and then spent the morning writing in his journal about how much he loves all of us and his bicycle.

[honey-and-gin]

[internalrenovations]

I believe my 15yo already has it down, and understands why it’s needed.

[allisonunsupervised]

The main reasons I’m glad I turned on the debate is the genuine sense of sisterhood I felt in recognizing that expression as the one always on my face in dealing with my adversaries in the high school I was finally moved out of this year.

[room12art]

Also! Also! When she corrected him starting with "well, actually, Donald..." I screeched with glee at the mansplaining tables being turned.

[weesmeet]

Leaving toxic relationships whether it be platonic or romantic is so fucking difficult to do. If you managed to do that I just want 2 say that u are so fucking strong ok

[room12art]

Remember this at that sad point every few days.

[ohsnix]

New! Improved! Beginning of the Year Resources for MS/HS Teachers

So the old, old, old post I had on Beginning of the Year Tips has been circulating again, but unfortunately most of the links were dead. So I went through, updated and removed some links, and added a ton more! Obviously the #education community on Tumblr is a wealth of resources and the best thing you can do is find an online PLN [professional learning network] like Tumblr to ask questions and get involved. Enjoy and reblog!

Introductions: Unique Information Sheet for MS/HS 

How to Survive the First Day of HS

40 Icebreakers for Small Groups [.pdf file]

The “Don’t Teach Them Content on Day 1” Myth

Icebreakers to build safe environments 

Why I Don’t Teach Procedures the First Few Days of School

Tips for Learning Student Names

First Year Teaching:

My Top 5 [really practical tips] For First Year Teachers 

Winning the Hearts of High Schoolers

Open House Tips

Parent Information Sheet [$1 TPT link]

How to Survive the First Month of Teaching HS English

Lesson Plan/Classroom Management Ideas:

Show Me the Strategies! - tons of unique lesson methods [.pdf]

Late Passes - how I manage late work

Teacher Planner [from the great hithertokt]

Great Classroom Management Tips [Including a Leave Me Alone pass]

On Classroom Management [from our own vwalker; an excellent overview of classroom management]

150 Questions to Write or Talk About - From the NYTimes!

Class Culture:

30 Ways To Show Students You Care [.doc]

5 Ways to Create Positive Classroom Culture

Flexible Seating Example

Setting Boundaries As a Relational Teacher

Inside Jokes Create Culture - no tips, but a good read

Academic Paper on Jokes in the Classroom

Student Assessment of Classroom Culture [.pdf]

When You Feel Like a Failure:

You Are Not Your Favorite Teacher

What are the Best and Worst Parts About Teaching?

When it Hurts and You Aren’t Doing Enough

I Should Quit I’m Too Bad

Misc: Convert your handwriting into a font

New Free Creative Goods [Updated every Monday!]

Free Fonts

50 Educational Podcasts to Check Out

The Classroom DJ - Music to Manage Your Classroom

Reblog with more!

[room12art]

My mother is moving my books around.

She is mixing them all up

[intheheatherbright]

Costume. Chitons.

[intheheatherbright]

Marjorie & C. H. B.Quennell, Everyday Things in Archaic Greece (London: B. T. Batsford, 1931).

[killerchickadee]

Wait, wait…. Is that seriously it? How their clothes go?

[treewizarded]

that genuinely is it

[itwashotwestayedinthewater]

yeah hey whats up bout to put some fucking giant sheets on my body

[sourcefieldmix-deactivated20161]

lets bring back sheetwares

[ardatli]

When you’re carding, spinning and weaving everything from scratch, using the big squares exactly as they come off the loom must seem like a fucking brilliant idea. 90% (or more) of pre-14th century clothing is made purely on squares (and sometimes triangles cut from squares). 

[annathecrow-that-was]

How did they get the fabric so fine it draped like that? Was that something medieval europe forgot? Or do I just have a completely misguided image of historical clothing?

[ardatli]

Medieval Europe also had incredibly fine weaves, though the ancient world tended to have them beat. Linen was found in Egypt woven with a fineness that we’re still trying to replicate, and there was a kind of cotton woven in India called ‘woven wind’ that was supposedly still translucent at eight layers, and wool shawls so fine that the entire thing could be drawn through a wedding ring. 

The way they could get away with pinking and slashing doublets in the 16th century was partially because the fabrics were so tightly woven that you could simply cut a line on the bias and nothing would fray. 

Modern fabric machining sucks ass in terms of giving us any kind of quality like the kind human beings produced prior to the Industrial Revolution. 

[spazzbot]

*yells about textile history*

[bantuit]

@vinceaddams

[patchypatch-deactivated20210726]

neat!

[artteacherproblemss]

Doing this in Fashion Design next year.

[inthemiddleofclass]

This is my updated and improved daily checklist page. I went back to a horizontal layout and added a column with our new bell schedule because there’s no way I’m going to remember it.

[room12art]

Love this!

[dottyasyouplease]

Educhums!

I just found this seating plan app. It lets you input your class list, and then set up your classroom (as many rooms as you need!), and then it will randomly generate a seating plan.

If you upload your grades with your class list, it will create the seating plan according to grades, it will do it boy-girl, and you can go in and make adjustments.

[theycallme-mssunshine]

Whoa whoa whoa I need this!!

[lolfactory]

[4gifs]

[dudeinthestacks]

First Year of Teaching

[artedish]

Yup

[strangenewclassrooms]

Second year too. Except I made it a bit further. I’d be like if that second lady started trying to hop them and tripped like her friend. 

[gameswithfisch]

I feel like 2nd year teaching they added spikes to the tops of the bars…

[strangenewclassrooms]

And you’re expected to be able to do it easily…

[gameswithfisch]

“Remember last time, you had these same problems with hurting yourself? Maybe you’re just not meant to run over the bars.”

[strangenewclassrooms]

Oh it can’t be that this set of bars is set on difficulty level 11. Yes, all the other teachers have struggled with this particular set of bars. But even still, you’re expected to be able to run over them. That’s your job. Help? That’s not my job.

[gameswithfisch]

I’m not allowed to help until after you’ve crossed the bars. Next year, I’ll come by frequently to see how you’re doing on a third set of bars. I could have told you to stay away from the bars, but I’m giving you another chance. You should be grateful.

[strangenewclassrooms]

We’ll just be observing you randomly to make sure that you are making it over these bars cleanly. You understand that we have a responsibility to the people who created these bars to make sure that you are doing everything right when you hop them. No responsibilities to you, though. Except to observe. And occasionally tell you what you’re doing wrong.

[gameswithfisch]

You’d probably have less of a problem with these bars if you stopped trying to be the bars’ friends. Clearly that’s the problem.

[strangenewclassrooms]

Have you tried making them do less work? Clearly, your issue is your expectations are too high. Lower them.

[gameswithfisch]

Or push them harder. Clearly the bars don’t know that you’re in charge.

[strangenewclassrooms]

We’ll be having a meeting with the others who run over this set of bars at the end of the year to try to see which bars need to be put in other sets. Yes, we heard from you at the beginning of the year that some bars in your set should be moved. And yes, we know that the bars that gave runner A trouble and the bars that gave runner B trouble are all in your set together. And this conversation won’t impact you at all. But we want to make sure that next years teachers don’t come across the same issues. But you just need to finish hopping over these bars—nothing we can do now. Just do your job.

[markct-deactivated20151225]

Have you tried making it fun for the bars?

[gameswithfisch]

While I appreciate the suggestions that you and the other runners have come up with to make these bars safer, that might cause issues when we go to reassemble the bars for the next runners who know how to deal with more challenging bars.

[strangenewclassrooms]

And you know, it’s really unfair to blame the issues you’re having on this set of bars. Yes, we know that every runner who has had them since the first year they were used has had issues with them. Yes, we know they have an awful reputation as being a particularly tough set. But it is still not OK to blame the bars for your difficulty in running over them.

[hisnamewasbeanni]

Does everyone remember when tumblr #education (particularly Pablo and Strange) combined for this thing of beauty?

Because I do.

[gameswithfisch]

Ok, so I was looking for Hither’s original DIY planner post in my likes and stumbled upon this gem.

[strangenewclassrooms]

This was a thing of beauty. I am proud to have contributed.

[strangenewclassrooms]

Every time I see this when I’m looking through my archives for a post, I have to reblog it. 

This is an #educhums automatic reblog forever and ever amen

[advanced-procrastination]

Tumblr post: “Make sure to check yourself for ticks after Pokemon hunting!”

Me: **checks for ticks**

Me: **finds a fucking spider**

[mdmshakespeare]

A spider fell out of my shirt and onto my skirt about 30 minutes after I got home tonight.

[positivelypersistentteach]

Corpses.  Spiders.  Ticks. 

I have lots of reasons to never start playing Pokemon.

[zombbeans]

I need to start walking with my kid and catch some good pokes.

[more-midwest-mumblings]

I’m with you, @positivelypersistentteach - lots of reasons to never start playing Pokemon. 

[room12art]

My ex person (who is the king of the assholes) actually was lightly tapped by a car while WALKING through a parking lot yesterday. The driver was playing Pokemon. He is fine, but seriously?!?!

[positivelypersistentteach]

Every August, I try to make a list of all current #education Amazon Wishlists to then get reblogged.  GWALP suggested using a google form this year to collect all the links.  Please add your name no later than July 22nd.

Click here to add your name.

A few things to remember:

You must have a mailing address linked to your wishlist.  You can keep the address hidden (Amazon can still have gifts sent to you if your address is not public), but people will not be able to order you stuff if there is no address.

Tumblrs that are not active or it appears were created solely for the purpose of the list will be removed.

Please make sure the link you add to the google doc is the wishlist link and not the address you see when you are editing your wishlist.  You have to go to the tab that says “share” and copy and paste that link.  Otherwise people will get an error when they click on the link, and once the list goes live we won’t be able to edit all of the reblogs.

@girlwithalessonplan and I will do our best to keep the guidelines in place, but as always, use your own judgement when deciding who to donate to.

Once the list goes live, I will contact bigger names and ask that they reblog the post so that hopefully we will all get some exposure.

Happy Teachmas!

[unpretty]

do microwaves in other countries have different quick setting buttons? are american microwaves the standard? do people outside the u.s. have a potato button, is what i want to know.

[joehabana]

Mexican here, we have potato button

[amor-louco-deactivated20221105]

I’m in Brazil and here we don’t have a potato button, we have a rice button.

[heartfilledminds-deactivated202]

I’m from the Netherlands and we have a potato button:)

[gnomebodiesgnerfect-deactivated]

In Scotland and we have a potato button but not on all microwaves just the nice ones.

[queerlynx]

In France I had a microwave with a chicken button and a breadloaf button

[findingnewnormal]

I’m from England and I didn’t know potato buttons were even a thing

[unpretty]

Potato Button:

United States

Mexico

Canada

Netherlands

Posh Scotland

Rice Button:

Brazil

Breadloaf Button???:

France

No Dedicated Carbs Button:

England

[unpretty]

okay i got sick of waiting for answers so i hopped onto some international versions of amazon and here is what i found:

australian amazon only sells books?? what the fuck

same for chinese amazon but that’s not as surprising

german microwaves have a potato button, but only when there are buttons. most of these things have dials. like… what. only weird fancy american microwaves have dials. also i saw a yogurt button.

indian microwaves seem to generally feature a ‘stuffed veg’ button instead of a potato-specific button. there is also a rice button. but do you know what else is standard. A GODDAMNED CHICKEN TANDOORI BUTTON. FUCK ME.

german and indian microwaves both had beverage buttons, which was not a surprise, but they also both had pizza buttons, which WAS a surprise. the indian microwaves called it a bread snack but it was clearly a picture of a pizza. why is the pizza button more universal than the potato button??

japanese microwaves have rice buttons and not potato buttons. no surprises there. the big surprise is that they also favor the dial. for that matter india had a lot of microwaves with dials, too. what gives. why the dials. where are your flat, easy to clean buttons.

according to italian amazon, in italian you call a kitchenaid stand mixer a “robot da cucina”. that is the cutest fucking thing i have ever heard. but back to microwaves. once again i’m seeing a lot of dials. you know these aren’t real ovens, right? why are you adjusting the strength so much. keep it on high and hit the one minute button. stop complicating things with dials. a lot of these are just rebranded german microwaves, so there is a potato button, and also a yogurt button.

see above for spain. y’all just have the same microwave. spain’s amazon is a lot less intuitive than every other country’s. i don’t know why. spanish amazon, please fix your menu system. it is wrong.

This concludes my fact-finding mission. Australia, why are your microwaves so mysterious.

[medusasmirror]

I love the words “potato button”

[destinationtoast]

I deeply admire the OP’s devotion to cross-cultural microwave studies and potato button data.

[marisolinspades]

@hollowedskin can you be of assistance in this matter? I need to know what settings exist on Aussie microwaves now. It is of utmost importance. I need closure after reading this.

[hollowedskin]

Ok first off, australian amazon did that without asking us, we also want everything delivered and that fuckery was not our call. Do you know how much stuff won’t ship to australia? A LOT.

Now onto the microwaves.

From memory it depends on where you buy them. If you get your electronics from Aldi  then pretty much everything, including the buttons, is confusing and mysterious. I owned one once with three different fish options. (steamed, frozen and just ‘fish’).

My microwave has these settings, none of which I have ever used ever. Although I would probably use a rice one if it worked. 

Popcorn, Potato, Frozen Entree, Vegetable, Dinner Plate, Hot Dog Auto Defrost, Express Defrost, Bread Defrost.

Australia confirmed for potato.

[useless-englandfacts]

England also confirmed for potato. It depends on what kind of microwave u buy but ours has a potato button.

[heathyr]

Most people I know had that one movie as a kid; that one movie that they would watch it over and over and over to the resigned acceptance of their parents. I’ve always thought that movie says something about a person. What was your movie?

[room12art]

I only remember my little brother watching The Little Mermaid over and over and over three times a day sometimes.