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quote of the day...
Thinking of becoming a teacher? Think those summers off make for an easy job? Think again....
From a recent article in a newsletter linking the New York City Teaching Fellows:
Courtney Hall, Cohort 10 Fellow and former team captain of the San Diego Chargers, recently told us in a phone conversation that, hands down, “Teaching is THE most ( Read more... ) -
random thoughts...
- I'm not normally a proponent of "homogeneous" grouping in schools. But in a school that groups kids according to performance levels (while denying there's any difference), I can see the difficulty in reintegrating the groups. My afterschool group consists (so far) of three kids from the "top" 8th grade class, two from the 2nd, one from the 4th ( Read more... ) -
favorite questions...
I love it when I fill the board with writing for the students to copy...
... and then one child who's in the back...
... or who has some other reason for confusion...
... asks, "What's that word?" *points to the word-filled board* "What word?" I ask.
"The ( Read more... ) -
left of center...
Check out this ( political quiz. ) -
hoppin' mad...
Oooh, I'm mad. Mad enough to do my little Rumplestiltskin impression and try to stomp my way through the floor of my classroom. Hoppin' mad.
Before I can explain what set me off this week, I have to explain my school a bit. The neighborhood I teach in was built about 30 years ago to attract middle-class people to an otherwise less-than- ( Read more... ) -
before i forget....
I'm tired and sick (welcome back to school!), but I wanted to make sure I got this incident down before I forgot the details.
Yesterday, I had a teachable moment in which the class discussed the importance of proper spelling and grammar in all your writings, because words remain for posterity to read.
Kinda.
If you can consider a moment where ( Read more... ) -
now that's a first
As I walked up the front steps at around 4pm today, I noticed a rather large something stuck to the side of the railing. That something turned out to be a praying mantis. Not being much of a bug lover, but knowing that they're pretty rare and protected, I whipped out my camera to snap a pic. As I zoomed in, I realized it wasn't a praying mantis ( Read more... ) -
oh my...
I survived the first week of school, for the fourth year in a row. I am oh-so-proud!
I did indeed get my kids from last year... mostly. We pretty much track our kids, although of course, we don't call it tracking.... Last year, I taught 701 and 703 - the top 7th grade class, and one in the middle. Now, I have 801, 803, and 805. This year's 801 ( Read more... ) -
who needs sleep?
So it's 5am and I'm awake. And I have been since around 3:15. And I nodded off around 11:30pm. I'm working on less than 4 hours here. Who needs sleep?
Actually, I do, but apparently that isn't in the cards for me today. So I figured I'd print some stuff I'll need for school this week... and update here while I'm at it.
Yesterday was the first ( Read more... ) -
what a mess!
My classroom is a wreck. I start school on Tuesday, the kids come in on Thursday - just over a week away. But the floors haven't been mopped, so I'm not allowed to touch anything in my room yet. This is bad. I have so much to get done, and so little time. For one thing, the teacher who had that room last year still has all his stuff in there ( Read more... )