Usually when it's nice outside, the kids will go out during the tail-end of their lunch periods. But since there is a tornado watch, they all stayed inside today. They seemed extra rowdy because of that. I was monitoring during 6th and 7th grade lunch, and both were out of control. It was pretty exhausting to keep the kids close-to-sane. Yikes.
Also, here's a reiteration of my girl-crush on Diane Ravitch's writing. This article speaks volumes on current ed reform. I especially like her astute observation that "[d]ata mean nothing when your mind is made up." How true. Damn stubbornness.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Individual Learning
I was an English teacher for one period today. Or, more accurately, I was sitting at an English teacher's desk. Her lesson plans were to have her students work on several projects that related to their recent reading. They were all quite well-behaved and on-task, and thus I really didn't have to do anything.
I would consider that classroom heavily student-centered. The students were self-paced and meeting the necessary objectives on their own terms. But, that doesn't mean that all seatwork implies a student-centered classroom. It depends upon the nature of the work.
As an example, this article, written by Alfie Kohn (via VS, of course) calls attention to the danger of rote worksheets and meaningless standardization as replacements for real education. Same old, same old, but oh so accurate.
I would consider that classroom heavily student-centered. The students were self-paced and meeting the necessary objectives on their own terms. But, that doesn't mean that all seatwork implies a student-centered classroom. It depends upon the nature of the work.
As an example, this article, written by Alfie Kohn (via VS, of course) calls attention to the danger of rote worksheets and meaningless standardization as replacements for real education. Same old, same old, but oh so accurate.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Metaphors!
I actually had something to do today! Amazing!
I was teaching upper-level ESL children about quotation marks, mixed numbers, and the Underground Railroad. The first two they found to be fairly straight forward. But the Underground Railroad was confusing as hell for them. Granted, it was confusing for me when I was in middle school and actually spoke the language well.
We read a short passage about the Underground Railroad, and then they had to answer fairly sophisticated questions about the passage, one of them being why the Underground Railroad was called the Underground Railroad. Even though the passage stated it was a way escaped slaves went from safe house to safe house until they got far enough north to be free, almost all of them were picturing an actual track underground. Although, luckily, they all knew enough not to think it was an actual railroad. Why must history be so complicated?
In other news, this article about standardized tests is fantastic. I know, I post a lot of these, but this one calls out specific, concise reasons why we should have other methods of testing knowledge.
Here's another article in a completely different vein, about how much power one student can have, and about the idiocy regarding science that is prevalent throughout the Bible belt. Haaaaaaaalelujah!
I was teaching upper-level ESL children about quotation marks, mixed numbers, and the Underground Railroad. The first two they found to be fairly straight forward. But the Underground Railroad was confusing as hell for them. Granted, it was confusing for me when I was in middle school and actually spoke the language well.
We read a short passage about the Underground Railroad, and then they had to answer fairly sophisticated questions about the passage, one of them being why the Underground Railroad was called the Underground Railroad. Even though the passage stated it was a way escaped slaves went from safe house to safe house until they got far enough north to be free, almost all of them were picturing an actual track underground. Although, luckily, they all knew enough not to think it was an actual railroad. Why must history be so complicated?
In other news, this article about standardized tests is fantastic. I know, I post a lot of these, but this one calls out specific, concise reasons why we should have other methods of testing knowledge.
Here's another article in a completely different vein, about how much power one student can have, and about the idiocy regarding science that is prevalent throughout the Bible belt. Haaaaaaaalelujah!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Counting Down
Is it terrible that I'm just counting down the hours to spring break? And have even less motivation than usual?
Speaking of motivation, this article is astute and very worthwhile. The question of how to help students motivate themselves cannot be easily solved, but Ferlazzo definitely gets the conversation going.
Off topic (big surprise), but I am not easily offended. However, the first time I saw students wearing bracelets that said "I <3 boobies," I was slightly offended. But, as with everything else, got used to it in time. Apparently, though, these bracelets were the catalyst for a lawsuit. I think I side with the judge on this one. It's not as if their bracelets said something really offensive, after all.
Speaking of motivation, this article is astute and very worthwhile. The question of how to help students motivate themselves cannot be easily solved, but Ferlazzo definitely gets the conversation going.
Off topic (big surprise), but I am not easily offended. However, the first time I saw students wearing bracelets that said "I <3 boobies," I was slightly offended. But, as with everything else, got used to it in time. Apparently, though, these bracelets were the catalyst for a lawsuit. I think I side with the judge on this one. It's not as if their bracelets said something really offensive, after all.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Hooray for Being Useful!
And hooray for Friday!
I'm teaching Spanish all day today... yay? At least it gives me something to do.
The looming news right now is of course the impending government shutdown. It won't affect my job but it will affect a hell of a lot of important stuff. This really has nothing to do with education but I'm posting it anyway because it's huge: FAQ's about possible shutdown.
And if the Michelle Rhee debacle in DC wasn't bad enough, NYC is having even bigger problems. These two articles (written by guess who) illustrate the complete clusterfuck that's going on there right now and with education policy in general. Can someone who knows what the hell they're doing please step up to run the schools? Kthxbai.
I'm teaching Spanish all day today... yay? At least it gives me something to do.
The looming news right now is of course the impending government shutdown. It won't affect my job but it will affect a hell of a lot of important stuff. This really has nothing to do with education but I'm posting it anyway because it's huge: FAQ's about possible shutdown.
And if the Michelle Rhee debacle in DC wasn't bad enough, NYC is having even bigger problems. These two articles (written by guess who) illustrate the complete clusterfuck that's going on there right now and with education policy in general. Can someone who knows what the hell they're doing please step up to run the schools? Kthxbai.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Gym Class, Spanish, and Math, oh my!
Yesterday and today have been rather boring, but at least I've done *something*...
Make-up school pictures were yesterday so I hung out in the gym registering students for pictures. That took the first 5-10 minutes of class... kinda dull. But again, at least it was something. And interestingly, there were more sixth graders who showed up than 7th or 8th graders. Not sure why.
Today I filled in for a Spanish teacher until the sub showed up right at the end of first period. There were no lesson plans so it was kind of fun (read: frustrating) doing things on the fly. I called the office to see if she had left the sub plans there and 10 minutes later a secretary appears with movies. I play one called "A Day in the Life of a Mexican Family" but it started in the middle (oops). I had them answer two question (hooray for coming up with things to do in 2 minutes!) but they had 15 minutes left of class. Hmmm... I asked them to work on whatever they had to do quietly. They were actually quite well behaved.
Then I taught a sped math class today. There were only three students. It was pretty easy, and the kids did what they were supposed to do. So today worked pretty well for me.
And believe it or not, I'm not posting an outside article. Amazing!
Make-up school pictures were yesterday so I hung out in the gym registering students for pictures. That took the first 5-10 minutes of class... kinda dull. But again, at least it was something. And interestingly, there were more sixth graders who showed up than 7th or 8th graders. Not sure why.
Today I filled in for a Spanish teacher until the sub showed up right at the end of first period. There were no lesson plans so it was kind of fun (read: frustrating) doing things on the fly. I called the office to see if she had left the sub plans there and 10 minutes later a secretary appears with movies. I play one called "A Day in the Life of a Mexican Family" but it started in the middle (oops). I had them answer two question (hooray for coming up with things to do in 2 minutes!) but they had 15 minutes left of class. Hmmm... I asked them to work on whatever they had to do quietly. They were actually quite well behaved.
Then I taught a sped math class today. There were only three students. It was pretty easy, and the kids did what they were supposed to do. So today worked pretty well for me.
And believe it or not, I'm not posting an outside article. Amazing!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Is it spring yet?
Oh this crazy DC weather.
The third quarter ended Thursday (hard to believe) and there was no school on Friday. To celebrate, several staff members (of which I was one) participated in a basketball game against another middle school. It was a lot of fun, doubly so because we won. And surprisingly, I was not only a starter, I got to play about half the game. And actually did pretty decently. Hooray! Then everyone went out for nachos and beer afterward. Hooray for bonding with colleagues!
Anyway, as usual I have nothing to do so far today and thus read the WaPo ed section. Great articles, including this one, arguing *against* standards. While I somewhat agree with the authors, I am all for national education standards. However, I think standardized tests are not the way to go about achieving them.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this article. It is incredibly poignant and accurate. Everyone should share it with everyone they know. Maybe then this stupid "test 'em until they're dead" movement will die out.
The third quarter ended Thursday (hard to believe) and there was no school on Friday. To celebrate, several staff members (of which I was one) participated in a basketball game against another middle school. It was a lot of fun, doubly so because we won. And surprisingly, I was not only a starter, I got to play about half the game. And actually did pretty decently. Hooray! Then everyone went out for nachos and beer afterward. Hooray for bonding with colleagues!
Anyway, as usual I have nothing to do so far today and thus read the WaPo ed section. Great articles, including this one, arguing *against* standards. While I somewhat agree with the authors, I am all for national education standards. However, I think standardized tests are not the way to go about achieving them.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this article. It is incredibly poignant and accurate. Everyone should share it with everyone they know. Maybe then this stupid "test 'em until they're dead" movement will die out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)