TVSTRANGERTHINGS
trying on a metaphor
Today's Document
Discoholic 🪩
shark vs the universe
KIROKAZE
Misplaced Lens Cap
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🪼
Stranger Things
#extradirty
izzy's playlists!
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
Three Goblin Art
Cosmic Funnies
Cosimo Galluzzi
DEAR READER
Aqua Utopia｜海の底で記憶を紡ぐ
祝日 / Permanent Vacation
seen from T1
seen from South Africa
seen from Belarus
seen from T1
seen from United States
seen from United States
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seen from United States
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@teachinglearning
Not so much for teaching (although usually that’s what I feel guilty about) but for the play. This is our last week of rehearsal and I feel so bad that I wasn’t there today and won’t be there tomorrow. Mostly I feel bad for my co-worker/friend who has to put up with the “director” all alone again....
Desks in rows, everything covered… Time for our first Standardized Test.
This is so dumb. All year you create things to hang up to aid in learning and for the kids to use as resources and you’re so happy when they finally do and stop asking you because they know where to go to find their answer, then you say, “Ha! Figure it out on your own!”
We’re allowed to keep everything up in IL and I think that’s the only smart rule we have for testing. Other than snacks. But that may not be IL only. ;)
Good example of the insane practice of standardized teaching!
Oh god, you know this is so mild comparatively, right?
Google has had some stunning logos over the years, but this one is a showstopper.
I really really love this.
anybody else think of avatar?
Long ago, the websites lived together in harmony…
Then everything changed when Windows Vista attacked!
Only Google, Master of All Search Engines could stop it.
But when the internet needed it most, Google vanished.
A hundred years passed and my friends and I discovered a new search engine: a confusing piece of crap named Yahoo. And although it’s searching powers are great, it has a long ways to go before it’s ready to help anyone with homework. But I believe, Yahoo can give A’s to the world….
this is why i love tumblr.
Nobel laureates slam the US over Bradley Manning case
November 16, 2012
Leaders of the United States have insulted the intelligence of the rest of the world, three Nobel laureates write this week, because of their continuously perverse mishandling of the case against accused WikiLeaks source Pfc Bradley Manning.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mairead Maguire and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel have authored a statement to be published in an upcoming issue of The Nation that condemns the United States’ persecution of the 24-year-old Army private and implores the rest of America to question the country’s secretive torture of a soldier that the prize winners say defended democracy.
“As people who have worked for decades against the increased militarization of societies and for international cooperation to end war, we are deeply dismayed by the treatment of Pfc Bradley Manning,” the laureates write.
“Questioning authority, as a soldier, is not easy.But it can at times be honorable. The words attributed to Manning reveal that he went through a profound moral struggle between the time he enlisted and when he became a whistleblower. Through his experience in Iraq, he became disturbed by top-level policy that undervalued human life and caused the suffering of innocent civilians and soldiers. Like other courageous whistleblowers, he was driven foremost by a desire to reveal the truth.”
According to military prosecutors, Manning aided al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula by providing Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks site with hundreds of thousands of sensitive files, including diplomatic cables and a controversial video of US troops executing civilians from an Apache helicopter over Iraq. Earlier this month, just shy of his nine-hundredth day under military custody where he suffers from conditions considered torturous by the United Nations, Manning told a judge during a pretrial motion hearing that he was willing to accept responsibility for contributing to the whistleblower website. Defense attorneys hope that the government takes the plea, relieving Manning from the harshest of the charges against him, including aiding the enemy and espionage, in exchange for admitting general fault. If his plea notice is rejected and Manning is court-martialed and convicted on those charges, however, the government could ask for a sentence of life in prison.
In the letter from Tutu, Maguireand Esquivel, the laureates say Manning needs to be honored if he has done as accused, not made America’s whipping boy for blowing the whistle. Earlier this year, Manning was nominated himself for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize by the Movement of the Icelandic Parliament, though the award was ultimately presented to the European Union.
“Private Manning said in chat logs that he hoped the releases would bring ‘discussion, debates and reforms’ and condemned the ways the ‘first world exploits the third,’” the laureates write. “Much of the world regards him as a hero for these efforts toward peace and transparency, and he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as a result. However, much as when high-ranking officials in the United States and Britain misled the public in 2003 by saying there was an imminent need to invade Iraq to stop it from using weapons of mass destruction, the world’s most powerful elites have again insulted international opinion and the intelligence of many citizens by withholding facts regarding Manning and WikiLeaks.”
“The military prosecution has not presented evidence that Private Manning injured anyone by releasing secret documents, and it has asserted in court that the charge of ‘aiding the enemy through indirect means’ does not require it to do so. Nor has the prosecution denied that his motivations were conscientious; it has simply argued they are irrelevant. In ignoring this context and recommending a much more severe punishment for Bradley Manning than is given to US soldiers guilty of murdering civilians, military leadership is sending a chilling warning to other soldiers who might feel compelled by conscience to reveal misdeeds. It is our belief that leaders who use fear to govern, rather than sharing wisdom born from facts, cannot be just.”
Manning was one of just six persons charged by the Obama administration under the antiquated, World War One-era Espionage Act of 1917, until last week when Navy linguist James Hitselberger became number seven in the president’s perpetually growing list of persons targeted for allegedly airing state secrets.
Earlier this month, former CIA agent John Kiriakou, who was prosecuted by the government for blowing the whistle on the enhanced interrogation practices enforced on suspected terrorists under President George W. Bush, was presented in Washington with a Callaway Awards for Civic Courage because of his commitment to exposing the government’s wrongdoings.
“I may have been on the wrong side of the government, but in my heart I’m on the right side of history,” Kiriakou said during his acceptance speech. Kiriakou was expected to be sentenced to upwards of 45 years in prison for his whistleblowing until he, like Manning very might, pleaded to lesser crimes in exchange for a weaker sentence.
According to chat logs the government says show a confession between Private first class Manning and confidant Adrian Lamo, the soldier said he hoped the leaks would expose “one of the more significant documents of our time, removing the fog of war and revealing the true nature of 21st century asymmetrical warfare.” The letter published in The Nation echoes that explanation and asks Americans to reconsider what Manning is accused of — an action that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says was an impetus in ending the Iraq War.
“We Nobel Peace Prize laureates condemn the persecution Bradley Manning has suffered, including imprisonment in conditions declared ‘cruel, inhuman and degrading’ by the United Nations, and call upon Americans to stand up in support of this whistleblower who defended their democratic rights,” the award winners write. “In the conflict in Iraq alone, more than 110,000 people have died since 2003, millions have been displaced and nearly 4,500 American soldiers have been killed. If someone needs to be held accountable for endangering Americans and civilians, let’s first take the time to examine the evidence regarding high-level crimes already committed, and what lessons can be learned. If Bradley Manning released the documents, as the prosecution contends, we should express to him our gratitude for his efforts toward accountability in government, informed democracy and peace.”
Source
“Waiting for ‘Superman’” told teachers they were terrible, callous, and incompetent, that only magnanimous charter school operatives could save victimized children from their rapacious clutches. NCLB told teachers they would only be considered successful if 100% of their students passed 100% of their tests. Condoleezza Rice told teachers they were so ineffective that they were a national security threat. Chris Christie told teachers that when two or more of them gather, they are thugs. Suddenly, the apple-themed knit sweater is a symbol of American menace rivaling the leather biker jacket. “Won’t Back Down” actors Viola Davis, Maggie Gyllenhall, Ving Rhames, and Holly Hunter used their art to communicate that teachers only want union protections so they can lock poor children in closets, and that the only way to protect children from the plague of heartless unionized miscreants mal-educating them across this land is by letting their parents hand over local schools to wholly benevolent charter school operators led by the friendly Mother Teresas behind Parent Revolution. Teachers learned from Bobby Jindal that public schools are so lousy that Louisiana is better off paying for its children to attend private schools that no state official has ever visited, that teach any curriculum whatsoever, and that are exempt from any accountability mechanisms at all because, you know, the free market will ensure their quality. (Though choice will allow children to vote with their feet by leaving public schools too, you can bet that arcane accountability measures will remain firmly in place for them.) StudentsFirst told America to distrust its teachers. Eric Hanushek told America that larger class sizes will improve education and, gee-whiz, they’re cheaper too, so why wouldn’t we grow them? Bill Gates seconded the motion. Barack Obama told teachers he hated teaching to the test, and then he built Race to the Top of Test Mountain.
The Exhaustion of the American Teacher (via robot-heart-politics)
Re-moralizing our work as teachers.
Barry Schwartz has enlightened me to the side I have unknowingly been fighting on in the war on wisdom. I have had strict rules and procedures that usually allow my classes to run smoothly. I incentivize behaviors that get my kids thinking and talking about science with a great amount of rewards. These rules and procedures save me from thinking and exhausting even more my reserves for decision making throughout each day. Yet, each and every day, I find myself playing the same role that Schwartz says in his talk that the police, paramedics, doctors, social workers, and judges all played, the role of victim to rules with the all too often spoken script: "I hate to do it, but those are the rules."
I hated to give a student a warning for just getting out of their seat to pick up a pencil for a friend. I'm was not doing myself any good, nor was I doing good for the student. Because in fact I am degrading their moral skill and reprimanding a good action from one person to another. I would not be doing myself any good either for several reasons: 1) it pains me to do it, therefore in trying to avoid thinking and decision making and brain function, I have in fact created more burden of thought by not following my heart and instinct to accept and reward moral right. 2) I would not be respecting myself or my values. 3) I would not be modeling and promoting behavior that I would want to see in my students, I would be in fact doing just the opposite!
The model of hard and fast rules, procedures, consequences, and extrinsic rewards is just as Schwartz describes it, that rules "may make things better in the short run, but create a downward spiral that leaves it worse in the long run." Because, he goes on, “moral skill is chipped away by an overrelience on rules” that deprives us the opportunity to be flexible.
This sheds light on why the first year might be a terrible experience, yet manageable, for most teachers, and the second year is a much less terrible experience, and even sometimes enjoyable one, because in the second year we have had an opportunity to question and reformulate our ability to be flexible of our rules in our classrooms. We are no longer in a state of survival mode, unable to make the downhill spiral of death stop until June 1st. In the second year, we must realize, consciously or non that moral skill must be taught in our classrooms. I think when the second year teachers, say, "I'm going to be better this year." or "I'm going to be more like myself this year." what they are trying to say is that following the rules for the rules sake is not them and never was, but what they are, are flexible morally right teachers who want to inspire students to simply do the right thing. Maybe I am generalizing and attributing my feelings to others, but I would hope this is the thought process in some.
I resolve to embody moral right. I resolve to respect myself, others, and learning. I resolve to model this, myself, to my students, each day so that I am at least one figure in their lives that they can look up to as an exemplar of an ordinary moral hero.
Video here:
Barry Schwartz - "Our Loss of Wisdom":
http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_our_loss_of_wisdom.html
ohmuffins’ DonorsChoose project was completely funded today! And recently, fornoesis had a fully funded project. So proud of #Education.
Let’s make it 3 for 3. Teachinglearning hopes to establish interactive notebooks with science students: ...
Thanks SO MUCH for the donation iamlittlei! And not to mention the shout-out!! Thank you! http://www.donorschoose.org/project/science-notebooking-aiding-in-organizat/821008/
Help me reach my Donors Choose goal!!
Hey tumblr!
I'm trying to purchase enough notebooks, glue bottles, scissors, and other materials so that my kids can make interactive science notebooks this year! My students will spend the entire year turning these plain old composition notebooks that you and others help me purchase into interactive science masterpieces full of notes, summaries, poems, drawings, diagrams, lab data, and other creative projects.
Unfortunately, my school has a very limited budget and only gives its teachers $160.00 to purchase all of their supplies each year. I use this money to purchase printer ink and copy paper (that in it self will only last a quarter of the year). So instead of resigning to the ordinary and having my kids read the textbook and take boring notes in their spiral notebooks, I have set up a DONORS CHOOSE project because I want my kids to have something that they are proud of and can take ownership over.
ANY contribution to my project is very much appreciated by me and by my kids (whether they want to admit it or not). All you have to do is go to this link: http://www.donorschoose.org/project/science-notebooking-aiding-in-organizat/821008/ and follow the steps to donate.
It's super easy and, again, ANY donation matters! THANK YOU in advance for your support!
$1 billion to boost students’ math and science performances source
» The money will finance drastically increased salaries for Corps-selected teachers — with each set to receive a $20,000 pay raise — and would require participating teachers to commit to program participation for a...
teachinglearning:
edunewbie:
girlwithalessonplan:
shapefutures:
monasequeda:
allisonunsupervised:
populationpensive:
teachinglearning:Ta-da! This is a my new classroom management consequence ladder tracking chart that I’m going to implement this year for my 8th graders! I’m adapting to it because one big problem that I ran into in my classroom management last year was that my students would instantly shut down once they received a writing assignment as a consequence. This new method enables the student the power to correct their behavior and move out of the negative consequences and back into positive ones by the end of the class period; actually encouraging them to correct their behavior!
Now just 6 more to make and a ton a clothespins to buy!
Comments? Questions?uh I have so many extra clip boards that I should consider doing this
[snipped by GWALP]
Then, my dear, we live in a world of semantics. Writing is writing. Authority is authority. Whether the consequence is overtly related to the material or not, consequences are things that ought not be enjoyed for the sake of doing, but things that ought to lift up a person to a new emotion. Please, #education, enlighten this bad teacher with your ideas on the context. I’m truly all ears. All I ask is that you be civil and not hijack for the sake of stating a message. I want you to bring something to the table that I can learn from, not bash for it’s insensitiveness.
I didn’t see anyone calling you a bad teacher.
Nor did I see anyone call this insensitive, but in other terms, many of us call this misguided.
As others have said, writing as a form of punishment can instill a dislike of writing, which is the opposite of what we as teachers want. Someone else made the point that, “I don’t make students do math problems, so why make kids write?”
Shape-futures said she does believe in apology letters, but I don’t even believe in forcing those. I have *suggested* to students, “I think it would be good of you to write a letter of apology if you can find the the words to say.” I don’t make them do it. Only ONCE have I had a student NOT do it. I don’t feel you are really fostering a genuine thought process of regret or the act of asking for forgiveness.
Writing for punishment, or any punishment, often does not “lift a person up to new emotion.” It can often foster many negative feelings—the opposite of what you want if not administered properly, effectively, or with known consequences.
I like that you make consequences of actions very, very clear. You do put student ownership into play there—YOU ARE MAKING THEM THE AUTHORITY by doing this. You cannot say, “authority is authority” because students need to feel empowered in your class, not overpowered. And you are giving them clear choices here.
I wonder how it would work if “teachers choice” was actually “student choice” and they had to choose from various tasks or reprimands: loss of lunch with friends, loss of recess, clean boards, or maybe even include the writing as a CHOICE so it’s not the only ultimatum.
then, after the “student choice” you call home. I wonder if you should be calling home much sooner. You have it as the fourth strike, essentially.
We are a community who wants to help, and when #education sees something we feel strongly about, then we tend to react in a knee-jerk way.
But I was being brutally honest with you: As a hypothetical parent, I would be furious if you used writing as a punishment for my kid. You would hear from me. I would ask for my kid to have after school detention and help clean your room or something.
How would you deal with me, as a parent, if I said no to your form of punishment (regardless of what that punishment is)?
I love this idea! If the child thinks that writing is a punishment, he/she is probably not the best writer and could use some improvement anyhow. Don’t get in trouble, and you won’t have to write. Simple as that.
But they will have to write. They’ll have to write every day. They’ll have to write for almost every subject. They’ll have to write for tests, for assignments, for expression, for labs, for just about everything.
Students have to write. Writing is not a negative consequence that can be removed if they do well and avoid negative behaviors.
If a student has trouble with writing, forcing them to practice because they did something they shouldn’t have isn’t going to help them. It’s going to make them hate something that they likely already hate because they’re not good at it. If you lack confidence and skill in something and someone forces you to do it as a punishment and justifies it because you need practice, how would that make you feel? Would it help your confidence?
Thanks to many of you for your encouragement and suggestions, I hope this in some way is beneficial to you. Clearing the air to your comments, #education. First, I want to be clear with you all: Not everyone works at a school with as much privilege as you all might. Please have compassion for a person's conditions and conditioning, especially when you are talking to educators, whose environments they work in sometimes are simply out of their own control. Understand this and do not place your knee-jerk reactions on someone's neck because you disagree with one little thing that they might do, without even trying to understand the situation that created the monster in the first place.
@Shapefutures I do not imply that a student is good or bad at writing. It is a fair consequence and I do not judge their writing ability. If I were a student, I would not want to get a writing assignment because it's a pain, just as much as I would not want to get a speeding ticket. I think your first statement says volumes: students will write everyday, for just about everything. Stop and come with me on this journey: If writing is inherent in a child's experience at school, and schools are places of learning, then isn't writing inherent in learning? Whether we, as teachers, force (we can argue the word force if you like, but, inside this education system is a serious power-struggle of student-teacher/adult relations, and the idea of "forcing" is the nature of the game whether it be intrinsic or extrinsic.) a child to write a math problem, or a biography on Martin Luther King Jr., or an apology, or a statement of what they did and how they could correct this behavior in the future, we are making them put pencil to paper when most of them would rather not be. Children want to learn, YES, but learning comes at a cost of doing things that are hard and in the case of schools, doing things that you feel resistent to.
@Girlwithalessonplan Thanks for your help. Writing in and for school can and I would argue does instill in students a discomfort in writing in most students, especially when that writing being judged. Please refer to my comments to Shapefutures concerning writing in school and the act of "learning" in our current form of education.
Punishment for the sake of punishment harbors negative emotions, yes. Justified and explained punishment for a clear behavior decision harbors negative emotions, yes. The simple act of a punishment harbors negative emotions, yes. The only way for teachers to truly lift a student or any one up, is by compassion and peaceful communication. In the chaos that is my school, I have yet to find even ground to lay foot to start real change. I'm trying to stay afloat and trying to be positive amidst the negativity. We work in the environments that we are given and can only do so much to change them. Unfortunately my school does not have a detention. Our halls are silent. Our lunch is silent. Students are routinely hit with a wooden paddle by their teachers and administrators for simply "talking back." A teacher has a less than 10% chance of getting a hold of a parent, due to rampent disconnected cell phones. In other words, the "call home" will not be a hard consequence for the child when they realize I am not able to get a hold of them.
I very much appreciate you for teaching your children forgiveness. I am not that smart or clever to figure out a way that I can foster a genuine thought process of forgiveness to my students as they have not learned it in the church nor at home. I desperately try to model forgiveness in my classroom, but still I fear my students do not see it as forgiveness, but shear weakness. I'm trying and I need help here.
As a hypothetical parent you would, you're saying, have your child "clean my room" or sit in silence "in detention" after school. Now, is this a good form of punishment in your eyes? If so, explain it further to me. Explain it to the janitor at your school, that their work is like punishment. Explain it to trash collectors, or anyone doing manual labor as their profession, that their work is hard and is like punishment, or at least a consequence of bad behavior. Maybe you would argue that they are janitors because that's their calling and they didn't do well in school? I'm not sure of your justification, so I want assume further, but could you please explain this to me, as a person, NOT as a hypothetical parent. I'm lost. Please explain.
@rabicle thanks for deciding not to use your foul language anymore, yes, children love candy and just the idea of candy motivates them to do well. I know this is instilling in them even more extrinsic motivators in their life, but please come walk in my shoes for an hour, without the language, please, before you bring your college-education to teach me about extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.
@takenbythesky am I not to believe, "Dear God," before a statement is insinuating that edunewbie is placing the advocacy of their comment into a god's hands, for which, it turns into a cry of "THIS PERSON IS CRAZY OVER HERE!"? Because surely if you can't use your words to argue your point coherently, then pray to god (or write him a letter, perhaps?).
@lbschool Candy, unfortunately, brings with it in the hierarchy of the middle school child's pecking order a speck of belonging.
@april2383 thanks for your question: All students will start on Good Behavior at the beginning of class. As the class progresses students will move up or down the chart depending on the behavior choices they have chosen to partake in. Some of these choices will be positive to the learning environment and will be rewarding by moving up the ladder, while others will be seen as hindering our learning environment which will move down the ladder to negative consequences. Students will be able to watch their progress throughout the class period and at the end of class I will record where each student left off, having them ready for parent calls and interactions.
Most categories are self-explanatory, except Teacher's Choice and Writing Assignment. A Student-Teacher conference will be part of the "Teacher's Choice" to the degree that I'll have a hall conference with the student at my earliest convenience. Then, after we have talked about the issue at hand and resolved and decided on a clear choice for the student to follow, the student will return to the classroom to return to learning. If, however, the student remains to be a disruption to the class then the teacher will "choose" whatever the student and teacher agree upon in the hallway. That might be changing a seat, calling home, a writing assignment, losing privileges, etc. If the behavior coincides, and/or continues the be a disruption then that is when their clothespin will be moved down to Writing Assignment.
The Writing assignment has evolved tremendously over my teaching. It's current form is a formal document where students will have to take it home to complete. The first step is explaining what they did by including the words "disrupting my learning". The student will have to explain their actions of misbehavior (justify their actions). Then they will have to suggest ways that they could improve upon by not making these same choices again in class. These writing assignments will be signed by a parent or guardian and returned the next day. If they are not returned, the student will be given a referral.
Ta-da! This is a my new classroom management consequence ladder tracking chart that I’m going to implement this year for my 8th graders! I’m adapting to it because one big problem that I ran into in my classroom management last year was that my students would instantly shut down once they received a writing assignment as a consequence. This new method enables the student the power to correct their behavior and move out of the negative consequences and back into positive ones by the end of the class period; actually encouraging them to correct their behavior!
Now just 6 more to make and a ton a clothespins to buy!
Comments? Questions?
uh I have so many extra clip boards that I should consider doing this
I beg all teachers who use writing as a consequence for negative behavior to think that through, and then stop it.
I second this emotion.
What kind of “writing assignment” is it? If it’s something contextually relevant and not just punishment, is there something else to call it?
The closest I’ve come personally to assigning writing is making a student write a letter of apology. It’s in our take-one bucket for negative consequences as “Apology Letter.” I’ve also seen some interesting consequence sheets in some of the schools I’ve worked at where the student has to write what they did, why it was a bad decision, and what they think they could have done instead. I’m assuming those are for use in supervised situations where the teacher or whoever was directly involved isn’t available to talk it over — a main office, detention, etc. — which, on one hand, might offer interesting insight into the student’s view of the situation if it’s given to the teacher later, but on the other hand, if no one is talking it through with the student, might not necessarily help them learn anything or change whatever behavior led to it in the first place.
If my child ever kids a writing assignment as punishment, s/he won’t be doing it. I’ll be more than happy to work with the teacher on some other punishment, but writing won’t be it.
Dear God, writing should not be a punishment. I can see doing an “apology letter” but that’s how it should be labeled. Putting a negative connotation on writing ultimately does a lot more harm than good.
Then, my dear, we live in a world of semantics. Writing is writing. Authority is authority. Whether the consequence is overtly related to the material or not, consequences are things that ought not be enjoyed for the sake of doing, but things that ought to lift up a person to a new emotion. Please, #education, enlighten this bad teacher with your ideas on the context. I'm truly all ears. All I ask is that you be civil and not hijack for the sake of stating a message. I want you to bring something to the table that I can learn from, not bash for it's insensitiveness.
Ta-da! This is a my new classroom management consequence ladder tracking chart that I’m going to implement this year for my 8th graders! I’m adapting to it because one big problem that I ran into in my classroom management last year was that my students would instantly shut down once they received a writing assignment as a consequence. This new method enables the student the power to correct their behavior and move out of the negative consequences and back into positive ones by the end of the class period; actually encouraging them to correct their behavior!
Now just 6 more to make and a ton a clothespins to buy!
Comments? Questions?
uh I have so many extra clip boards that I should consider doing this
I beg all teachers who use writing as a consequence for negative behavior to think that through, and then stop it.
@allisonunsupervised Explain and discuss your sentiments, please. Do not beg me, you're not a dog, you're a human being with words. Write them down so that I can understand your views.
Ta-da! This is a my new classroom management consequence ladder tracking chart that I'm going to implement this year for my 8th graders! I'm adapting to it because one big problem that I ran into in my classroom management last year was that my students would instantly shut down once they received a writing assignment as a consequence. This new method enables the student the power to correct their behavior and move out of the negative consequences and back into positive ones by the end of the class period; actually encouraging them to correct their behavior!
Now just 6 more to make and a ton a clothespins to buy!
Comments? Questions?
Ever wondered what this Higgs Boson thing is that everyone you don't know seems to be talking about? Well, here you go!! The Higgs Boson Explained.
Never Better: Second year teacher.
Finally here. These last three weeks have been amazing at MTC summer school round 2. I remember why I'm here and why I want to be a teacher and educate. They have made me realize just how much I have grown AND that I haven't stopped. The first years were an inspiration to the days of old-their bright eyes and insightful comments brought back to me that fresh take I had a year ago stepping foot onto Mississippi. The second years have been like family: supportive, fun, annoying at times, and full of love. The team teachers have shown me that even with the confidence and composure I may project in the halls and the classroom, I still lack those lightning fast reflexes and the god-like forethought to craft a perfect lesson.
As I lesson planned for new days, slightly similar topics this time around, I looked back at my first lessons and laughed at just how awful the students must have thought I was. I see so many similarities between myself and the first years in how I crafted my lessons and how I projected my teacher presence a year ago. They fall into the same traps the kids lure them into; they don't plan thoroughly and overly; they have no idea of time management; they talk way too much; they don't know how to talk with kids; they don't know how to get 100% of the class on task; they don't, they don't, they don't. They do, however, know how to ask for help (at this point), take feedback constructively, and try to implement advice in their subsequent lessons. They, as a whole, are excited and willing to be here, doing this. No matter the criticism, that to me means a lot.
This summer school has also inspired me to gather resources and plan hard for next year. Will there be no more midnight planning on a wednesdays this year? Perhaps. Will I have a pacing guide and several units flushed out and planned? YES! I've been deciding what kinds of things I like in my teaching and what things need the axe, as well as scouring for fresh ideas I've gotten from my colleagues this summer. It's a wonderful feeling when you have (what are we down to now?)...23 like minded folks who have "been there, done that" in their first year, and are equally as excited to "try this new thing" for next year. If anything, I have a solid management plan for next year that brings a chance for students to redeem themselves within the day AND I have the confidence to implement brand new procedures that I believe in this second time around.
Here's to next year family! We have never been better as we are right now.
Tonight was our last family night, and my students were doing “wax museum” type performances based on their state they have been researching. Under a table I had everything my kids would need - the “push here” button, their state suitcases they made, and their state flag that they would hold up.
Communicate with the 5th grade teacher your thoughts on how she reacted to the issue. Explain that it ought to be a non-issue. Maybe you could ask her if she was truly offended, rather than assuming/jumping to conclusions via your ex-bf. Our flag serves as an important historical landmark for the civil war era and the hate that many people in the south and north held and may still hold to this day. It is a good talking point, NOT something that should shut down conversation, but create discussion. Explain this to her and be willing to talk it out.
