April 2012
48 posts
Mr. Feeny: Believe in yourselves. Dream. Try. Do Good.
Topanga: Don't you mean "do well?"
Mr. Feeny: No. I mean "do good."
March 2012
89 posts
Creative Education: Parent-Teacher Conference! →
creative-education:
I have a brother and sister in chemistry class. Both are what teachers would traditionally call “A Students”. One is a critical thinker - very good at using what has been learned to figure out something new. The other is a creative thinker - very good at grasping the overall application of a…
When we had parent conference, the first and main topic was the state test....
Engaging science
Btw 5th graders like acting out the stages for incomplete and complete metamorphosis for different organisms. Try it. Its quite amusing. At the end of class they got it down.
“Miss M, this boy on my bus said he looooooves you.”
– a second grade girl
“Miss M, you would make a great teacher!”
– my 5th grade student
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Metamorphosis
I’m trying to think of a way to make complete and incomplete metamophosis fun and enagaging tomorrow in class. Today we started and tomorrow we finish the topic.
What if students demonstrated the different stages for a butterfly (egg, larva, pupa, adult) through demonstration. Four students would represent the different stages:
First student would curl up in a ball for the egg
Second...
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Big Day Tomorrow
Tomorrow I put on my big girl pants and cover for my cooperating teacher while she’s out for the day. It will be the first day substituting my class! Yay for finally getting paid!
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2nd graders
The past 2 days I was substituting the same 2nd grade class. Both days were also state test days for the upper levels. This means both days I was in the same classroom with 27 students the whole school day. No recess. No PE.
I’ve never yelled so much in my life. These 2nd graders were a handful. Every 2 hours I wanted to curl in a ball and hide. I missed my 5th graders terribly. Attitude...
Too soon?
I might have said yes and signed a contract too soon with Yongin. Another interview was offered that’s a little bit more in pay and a better location, near the shore.
I mean, I really like the support for teachers and foreign teachers at the signed contract school. The only thing that gets me is that Yongin is SO up north. This Texan is going to be soooooo cold. I feel like I should have...
Teaching experience
By the end of my student teaching experience I will have completed about 20 lessons, half math and half science. I should be grateful.
At this halfway point of the semester,I’m just tired. Getting up at 5:30 everyday is taking a toll on me.
sukideen:
“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.”
- F. Scott Fitzgerald.
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What's up with this Hunger Games fad?
As the news is on at work, reports come on about the Hunger Games release. Quite a few customers questioned why this story/movie was so big? Some even reported that “there’s already another story like this.” Well duh, new stories are just spin offs, extensions, revisions of previous ones. That’s the art of storytelling.
It took every inch of me to not yell at the...
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Behavior logs for teachers
2 of my students made a behavior log full of misbehavior marks for me and my CT! Here’s why:
In one of my classes I have two boys who work well individually, but when they’re together its double trouble.
Everyday I have to pull their behavior log after multiple verbal warnings. Most of the time its bad behaviour marks for misbehavior such as off task, not following directions and disrespectful....
OMO!
I have a job offer for the private school in Yongin! My interview went well! ….except they would want me to leave to Korea as early as May 15th and no later than the end of the month. Wellllll, I graduate May 10th sooooo that’s exciting, yet scary to think of! OMO!
I’m still waiting to hear from yesterday’s second school interview from Ulsan. The location sounds great,...
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THE HUNGER GAMES
Over a year ago, two years?, I was reading a book for my education class called the Hunger Games trilogy. We even made lesson plans incorporating the text for various subject areas. Little did I know, a movie was being made of the first book!
Ekkkkk! This is exicting! Tonight’s the premiere!
This student teacher is going to the premiere!!!!
Students, you have been forwarned—...
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Interview update
First interview with Yongin down!
It wasn’t that bad. It surprisingly went well. Questions were on classroom management, lesson planning, creativity and familiarity with Korea.
Yongin is about an hr or 2 at most away from Seoul, the capital. Its a medium city with a lot of tourist areas but still close enough to the main city. I like the location because its close to Seoul, but I...
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Interview
I have an interview tomorrow for a school in Yongin, South Korea!
I’m so excited! and nervous! and scared!
This is exciting because its a HUGE and very real step to getting a teaching position in SoKo!
….But, its also my first interview.
Even if this doesn’t work out, more interviews are to come!
“Hi nice teacher.”
– A student who is in a class across the hall from me
“Good Morning Miss, your shoes (heels) look painful”
– One of my students
First day after Spring Break
The sun is shining outside and we’re all back in school. I’m not sure if they cranked the a/c down or if I just forgot the feeling of being inside a building for 8 hours a day. I now have to recondition myself to be comfortable with constant a/c on and being with students all day.
The students slugged into class in the morning in a fashion that I had never seen them. All were so...
“Don’t let the kids run all over you.”
– Steve (a good quote from a good man)
Survey: Teachers work 53 hours per week on average →
ohmuffins:
infoneer-pulse:
A new report from Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, called Primary Sources: America’s Teachers on the Teaching Profession, finally quantifies just how hard teachers work: 10 hours and 40 minutes a day on average. That’s a 53-hour work week!
These numbers are indicative of teachers’ dedication to the profession and their willingness to go above...
Hard to breathe
I mind myself unable to breathe when I think about:
my thesis draft due at the end of the week
my 5 out of 11 complete science lesson plans I should have done by the end of spring break
how I have 6 weeks of student teaching left
the uncertainty of what I’m doing after graduation in less than 2 months
….but then I remember that the Hunger Games movie comes out next week. Whoosh.
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Possible job position in SoKo
Since the beginning of the semester I started to get in touch with recruiters to teach in South Korea.
Emailing is all that I’ve really done. This week I barely mailed my FBI background check and emailing my resume.
I received great news from my recruiter today: there is a job position in Ulsan that might be open for me this summer. My recruiter is forwarding my resume to the school and...
21 Things That Will Become Obsolete in Education... →
world-shaker:
Some eyebrow-raising ideas (or at least delivery) in here. I’ve included a few below:
5. The Role of Standardized Tests in College Admissions The AP Exam is on its last legs. The SAT isn’t far behind. Over the next ten years, we will see Digital Portfolios replace test scores as the #1 factor in college admissions. 6. Differentiated Instruction as the Sign of a Distinguished...
Why do rich kids do better in school than poor... →
The research literature on the impact of socio economic status on children’s learning is sobering, and it’s easy to see why an individual teacher might feel helpless in the face of these effects. Teachers should not be alone in confronting the impact of poverty on children’s learning. One hopes that the advances in our understanding the terrible consequences of poverty for the mind and brain...
from-student-to-teacher:
I’ve got a lot to teach, but even more to learn.
Storytelling in the classroom
I recommend this TED talk listed below about storytelling for teachers.
Storytelling is apart of every aspect, even teaching. How I start a lesson determines how well the students will be engaged in the lesson and how much they are willing to learn.
I thank my university professors for instilling this storytelling mind-set for me.
The clues to a great...
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Lost Sheep
When students are drawn out of your school for family, housing, or personal reasons, it feels like lost sheep.
Since I’ve begun student teaching, 6 students out of 50 were withdrawn and moved. Isn’t that a lot for the 2nd semester?
When a student would leave, the class was suddenly be quieter and more focused. Sometimes, that person’s group lost their group thinker, the...
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TEDtalk: The Power of Introverts
[TED Air] I like this TED talk. Susan Cain: The power of introverts http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html TED Air (http://goo.gl/2Aftm)
Even though I am an introvert, I love teaching. Who says all teachers have to be extroverts?
This also means that I am aware of the introverts in the classroom and work hard not to push them to be extroverts.
When starting lessons, I...
Tumblr Teacher: Girl with a Lesson Plan: We've Had... →
positivelypersistentteach:
i-am-river:
Trigger Warning: Violence, Disrespect, Injustice, Public Education
Yesterday, a veteran teacher and wonderful person, with a thirty year unblemished record was attacked by one of her students. She defended herself, but still ended up on her…
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write,...”
– [Alvin Toffler] Learning Without Frontiers
How to Encourage Critical Thinking in Science and... →
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