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Sometimes I feel as if I don't fit into the system of education. I wonder if I am just crazy or if I am part of a silent minority (perhaps even majority) who feel the same way. So, I am making a list of paradigm shifts that I think many teachers, administrators Read More...
Ever since I was little, I had an easy time writing. For some reason, the words came to me quickly, with little need to learn an organizational structure. A vocabulary was like a candy store, where two things that were virtually identical had slightly Read More...
I’m sitting at my computer reading an editorial for grad school. The man is trying to justify why teaching is a science and not an art. I find it insulting, but I am engaged. I can tell that he wants to believe that, if teachers received the perfect training Read More...
I am embaressed to admit it, but I like Shakira - and not in the way that most men usually think about Shakira. No, it's not the rock hard abs and belly dancing that impresses me. Instead, I actually like her music. (For the record, I also like chick Read More...
Solitude is missing from current educational system. Students, while they are at school, must plough through book work, handouts and lectures in a ridiculous pace. Everything is disjointed and disconnected, often taught in subjects that are irrelevant Read More...
After reading the answers from Bell Work, I feel confident that my students know the causes of World War II. We engage in a dodge ball type game that enables them to see imperialism and colonialism. I allow them to break into alliances to teach the alliance Read More...
Twenty students claim their favorite seats within minutes of the lunch bell ringing. The skeptic in me initially assumes that it is a first week rush, a desire to get out of the one-hundred and ten degree heat. The students will find out that our Student Read More...
Every few years, the educational community chooses a catchy new trend and markets it as the greatest method students will ever experience. When I was a child, the trend was writing in journals. As I grew older, it was graphic organizers. Later, Word Walls Read More...
When I first began teaching, I used the class website as a way to communicate with students. It was very teacher-oriented and I was proud of the work I had accomplished. When I realized that I wanted student involvement, I decided that I would allow them Read More...
Sitting in a staff meeting, I pull out the agenda and begin drawing cartoons. Instead of reading PowerPoint presentations, we work collaboratively (read "group think") on a school wide mission statement. "Make sure it is attainable, measurable and . . Read More...
I ride past a freshly plowed empty field and see a large corrugated fence that advertises the latest neophyte tagging crew in sloppy, choppy letters. I don’t know what is the worst of these aesthetic crimes – the graffiti on the walls or the fact that Read More...
Birthdays are important to me. Unlike other American holidays, they do not require reciprocity. There is no give-and-take, no social contract; nothing that says, "our gifts better be equal, because if they don't, I'll either feel gyped or guilty." Unlike Read More...
When I first learned to type, I never had any "aha!" moments. There were no brilliant epiphanies with a choir of angels and bells and whistles. Slowly, begrudgingly, I tapped away using the proper format. Finally, it was a part of my motor memory and Read More...
For the last two hours, I have been converting my format for lesson plans (which include the standard, the essential question, the objectives, a few inclusion pieces and a very structured outline) into the school-mandated, heavy-handed SIOP format. I'm Read More...
I'm breaking the rules of blogging ettique, by creating a long post. Yet, I don't think I can explain the story in a shorter format. Maybe it's just not meant for a blog. It's the first week of school and I have a class of forty-one students for a scripted, Read More...
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