The Khan Academy

Really, really getting closer to finding ways to incorporate the Khan Academy into my math curriculum.  There is so much to this site, that it is hard to explain.  So, instead of trying to explain it, I will let you watch a video of Salman Khan, the founder of the Khan Academy.

The excuses are getting better!

While collecting homework, one of my students actually handed me this piece of paper.

(Enjoyable kid.  Really enjoyable!)

I Faled

I think this is what my students are talking about when they say, "epic failure."

Words that Edify

I admit it.  I love finding little notes like this on my lectern.

They make me feel unpointless.
 

Do you know your colors?

I have this poster up in my room...

Say the name of the color of ink used for each word.  Don't read the words, simply say the name of the colors.

Say them as fast as you can.

Interesting People

Finding people interesting...

This is so true, and so applicable in the school. Taking a moment and listening to a kid can mean SO much to them. Here is a short video adding to that thought:



[HT: The Blazing Center]

At least you have goals...

If you were a fly on the wall in my classroom yesterday, this is what you would have heard:

Me: "So, what happened to (student's name)?"

Student 1: "Oh, he dropped out."

Me: "Oh really, how do you know that, did he tell you?"

Student 2: "No. I saw him in the office filling out his paper work."

Me: "Paperwork?" *intrigued look on my face* "You mean there is paperwork for dropping out? I thought it was just 'dropping out.'"

Student 2: "No. There is this paperwork you need to fill out... your parents just sign it and you can drop out. You have to be 17."

Me: "Hmmm. Did not know that."

Student 2: "Oh yeah. I am planning on dropping out as soon as I turn 17. I am going to be emancipated and then drop out."

silence

Me: "So, how many of you are planning on dropping out?"

More than half of the hands go up.

Student 1: (Who didn't have their hand raised.) "Well, at least you have goals."

Getting Back

I am probably not as good as most teachers when it comes to "getting back into the teaching spirit." I do love to teach... just in-general... I love teaching things. I don't love some of the aspects of being a teacher: Paper work, motivating students, dealing with parents, dealing with discipline in the classroom, grading, more grading, confronting students on poor grades, etc. I don't hate these things, I just don't love them. In fact, I down-right dread some of them.

For example, I would love to be able to start the year by saying, "If you want to learn, or if you know that you need to learn this and have become resigned to doing it... then stay here. If you don't want to learn and are going to fight it every step of the way, I wish you weren't here. I would love it if you would change your mind, but if you won't, then I wish you would go." Of course, I can't do this, but I wish I could.

I admire those teachers that really get into it and passionately look for ways to motivate their students and find creative new ways to present the materials, but philosophically I don't believe that the biggest problems in education are the means or the methods, I believe that the biggest problems lie with the students. Not that the teacher or how the teacher teaches doesn't play a role, but there are students that will learn despite the teacher and there are students that will not learn in spite of the what that teacher does.

Does any of this make sense?

How does this play out? Well, I believe that one of the best things that you can do for a student is give clear instruction, have clear expectations, determine clear consequences, and clearly follow through. If they want to pass, whether it be for good reasons or bad, they will do what they need to do.

Does this work? I say yes! On one condition... Everything must be tempered with compassion. If you do these things with compassion, they fit and work in that everyday classroom situation. Then you don't get angry at the disruptive student, you simply say, "Well, you just earned yourself a detention... would you like another, or would you like to sit down and be quiet?"

This is a rash sort of post, but I just had a couple of things bouncing around in my head as I am trying to get back into the right frame of mind and I thought I would spew them out onto this blog.

Nominate "favorite" teacher...

I received an e-mail the other day that referred me to a website where you could nominate your "favorite" teacher. Here is a part of that e-mail:

"You can nominate an extraordinary educator by visiting www.expoeducator.com and submitting a brief essay about the teacher you feel deserves a little more recognition. 12 semi-finalists and one-grand prize winner (known as the “EXPO Extraordinary Educator”) will be given a financial break – prizes include cash, free EXPO school supplies and more."

I wanted to pass this along to all of my teachery friends, and maybe a few of my former students might feel motivated to nominate me... :)

Last Day

Today is the last day of school.

Yay.

don't call me, I'll call you...

This is why I don't normally give students my phone number. When I do, I usually get some weird, random voice mails, like this one.

Leaving ...

Here is a good post from the Guru's Handbook about leaving. The title of the post is "A Change of Season". Here is one quote from that post, just to wet your appetite.

As teachers, we have a greater responsibility to our students than they to us, especially with respect to the greater scope of the teaching relationship. We can - and where we are able we should - speak of these transitions to allow the student to reflect and change under the umbrella of our support and insight.

Click on over to the Guru's Handbook and read the full post.

Chapel (#2)

Here is the rest of the Chapel.

(Once again... So sorry for the poor quality video. My phone seems to be doing worse than normal!)

Chapel Today (#1)

Here is the Choral group singing Mighty to Save:

(Sorry about the poor quality video... all I had was my phone.)

impressionable

I was talking in class the other day and strayed into a mini-soapbox-rant about effort and grades.  (I couldn't be a teacher if I didn't do that every so often.)  I was saying something about how those students who are doing well were really working for it, as opposed to those students who were not doing well...  There is actually quite a bit more to this speech, so please don't take me out of context...

When I reached my first lull in my rant, one of my students, with a smile on his face, says, "...maybe we could take some extra points off the top of those high grade students and give them to those students who don't have as many points.  In my neighborhood, that's called fair."

He's a sophomore.

One of My Students!

I just found out that one of my students does claymation! Here is a bit of his work:



I love claymation!