TEACHING.LEARNING.GROWING.
Need a quick meal after a long day? Try this quick and easy recipe. Just throw it in the crockpot before you leave for work.
4-6 pork chops
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can water
1 package dry ranch dressing
Lay pork chops in bottom of crock pot. In bowl, mix together soup, water and ranch dressing. Pour mixture over pork chops. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Great over rice with your favorite sides.
We were told to pair ourselves up with someone who was interested in working on ONE particular teaching skill/idea/weakness. We had to get our area of improvement approved by the principal. Then we had a set of dates we had to schedule to meet with the principal and discuss how things were going. We had to do research, implement ideas, log what did/didn't work, re-implement. We met with our partners to discuss what we were going to try and how it was going. Then we did a final evaluation with our principal to discuss how things had gone and what we had learned.
My partner and I decided to focus on integrating an SSR program into our classrooms. WOW!! It completely altered my attitude about reading in the high school classroom. It also allowed us to focus on what we felt was an area we wanted to improve and gave us a partner we were comfortable discussing things with.
This was so much more helpful than those stupid observations where the principal would come in one day and judge our teaching based on that dog and pony show one day. Principals need to be able to trust their veteran teachers to be able to implement this plan. And if there are veteran teachers who don't follow through or who are identified as weak teachers...put them back on the traditional model.
I learned more when we were using this method than in any of the other teacher observation models I have ever been part of. Try it. Run it by your principal. I think you'll all benefit.
Let's talk.
One of the things that has frequently bothered me about teachers and students is the fact that some teachers seem to get some kind of strange joy out of overloading students with homework. I don't get it.
I ALWAYS tried to remember what it was like to actually BE a student. Students have anywhere from 3 to 7 classes in addition to your own. They also have after-school activities that we encourage them to be in like sports, band, clubs. Many have jobs and/or chores when they get home. And don't forget they need some free time just to be young.
Please, teachers, try to remember that students do have a life outside of your classroom. We want them to be well-rounded individuals, and yet, all too frequently we don't give them the time to do that.
Think carefully when assigning after school work. Make deadlines reasonable. Don't just give work for the sake of giving work. Ask students when they have other upcoming tests/deadlines/commitments and do your best, if possible, to schedule around those. It's not always possible to do it, I know. We've all been there. Sometimes the test HAS to be on that day, or the project MUST come in that week.
Talk to your students about it. Let them see that you CARE about them and that you are doing your best to help them be successful. They will appreciate it. And, really, it's the fair thing to do.
Here are some awesome quotes to use in your ELA classroom to inspire student writing.
"If you have a minimum of talent, but you sit at the typewriter long enough, something will emerge. All I had was this burning desire to be a writer and all these emotions." Robert Cormier
"Write what makes you happy." O. Henry
"Every writer I know has trouble writing." Joseph Heller
"The moment of change is the only poem." Adrienne Rich
"There's no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly: sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges." Ernest Hemingway
"Don't say the old lady screamed. Bring her on and let her scream." Mark Twain
"If you wait for inspiration to write, you're not a writer. You're a waiter." Dan Poynter
If there is any one book that I think helped me re-think my teaching methods,
it is In the Middle by Nancie Atwell.
This is probably one of the more idiotic moments I've had in the classroom.
I had a student who turned in a paper to me, and in it he had written the word "fake" only he spelled it "faque." I called him to my desk at the back, kinda laughing at the mistake because...well...really? lol!
I told him how to correct the error. Then he asked, "Well, what does this spell?"
I said, "Maybe fu-q?" And I just kept saying it, trying it out in different ways.
Slowly the other students would turn and sneak looks at me as if I had lost my mind. And well...say it out loud and I think you'll see why. When I realized what I had done, I turned beet red. Ugh!! I had to tell my principal about it in case any parents called to express concern. Luckily none did.
Seriously...FU-Q???????
