The Thing with Feathers (5/5)

I went to Barnes & Noble and leafed through Doug Lemov's book Teach Like a Champion last weekend and took copious notes. It was encouraging to see that a lot of the techniques were ones I already used and thought were kind of common sense. Then again, after reading them, there were ones that I have NOT been using that ALSO seemed like common sense! I had several "oh yeah, why didn't I think of that?" moments.

Adding

18. Student responses online - I have a ning set up, but unfortunately the site is blocked on the school network. Also, free nings are going to expire, and I'm not going to pay for a service that I can get for free. So now I'm working on setting up a blog instead.

28. Parent contacts & parent support - I say this EVERY TERM, and every term I just let things slide. It worries me; I'm not sure what to do to get myself to keep in touch with parents. One thing I did this term was to include a spot on the syllabus where parents could circle if they could come in and volunteer or send in supplies.

29. Weekly progress report printouts - Hopefully this will help encourage me to keep grades updated regularly, and it will help students keep track of what they can do to improve their averages.

31. Shakespeare workshop - This worked REALLY well with both last semester's seniors and this semester's sophomores, even though this term I didn't have "real" actors. Next year I will tap some of the students I had this term to help me run the workshop.

32. No opt out/Cold call - Ask students if they CAN answer the question, which requires a yes/no response. If they say no, call on someone else for a clue, then return to the original student for the answer. Call on students regardless of who raises a hand; students only respond when called on.

33. Backup SSR - Students should have TWO books for Self-Selected Reading at all times. This way when they finish one, they've got the next already. As part of our start-of-class procedure they'll have both books stacked on their desk for me to check while they do their daily writing.

I can't wait to feel better. I'm tired of being sick.

I. Continuing: Ideas that worked well
II: Repeating: Ideas I didn't implement effectively
III: Discarding: Ideas I implemented that weren't effective
IV: Tweaking: Ideas that worked but might be improved
V: Exploring: New ideas for next year!

Image thanks to http://www.flickr.com/photos/nane-zwerg

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Sick and Tired

Maybe I just don't have the patience it requires to be a teacher. Or maybe it's just because I'm sick.

I'm tired of the constant redirects. SO tired. I'm tired of students not paying attention and asking questions that I just answered. Like fifteen seconds ago. They're finishing up final projects, and I can't conference because the other students won't work. I just want to walk out the door, go home, and go to bed.

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How did I get here?

I have not forgotten! Last couple of days have been nuts, with deadlines for both yearbook (internal) and newspaper. I can't believe it's already after 9:00! It feels like I'm perpetually tired.

please, God, don't let me get sick.

The Carnival will be up tomorrow, but alas! it'll be in the afternoon. I haven't even looked at the submissions since Saturday. So I definitely have to get things in order.

Do I stay up and grade, or do I go to bed & put it off yet again? *sigh* sleep beckons... yet with grading looming over my neck, can I truly rest???

time to find out!

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Useless Trivia

No, really. How is it that only two out of every three people answered the following MULTIPLE-CHOICE question correctly?

In the book Bloody Jack, what is Jacky's real name? Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy

I so heart goodreads.

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Boiling Over

OMG!
WTF!
SRSLY!!

I don't believe it. (Well, I do, but I was stunned.) Not ONLY is twitter blocked, but so is ning and pbwiki (which I've used for class assignments before!)

I mean - honestly! WHY bother giving us new computers when they're nothing more than glorified word processors??

It doesn't help that I got like four hours of sleep last night. Evernote will NOT sync. Oh, and lovely. Now my gradebook won't load either.

Forget Ishmael. Call me Dante.

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Ugh. Something hit me HARD at the end of the day yesterday, and I was up a good bit of the night because I was so congested I couldn't breathe.

It ticks me off, because my first session of a new dance class starts today, and I'm just exhausted. I don't know if I can make it to class tonight - I can barely type. ;p And I was really looking forward to that. :(

Anyway, it's time to go to school. I'm not quite sick enough to stay home, considering that there's yearbookyfoo that HAS to be done today, or ... well, I can't think of what OR, but I know it's bad, even if I can't remember it at the moment.

Blih. Go 'way, bugs.

Image thanks to http://rennerfamilyinhaiti.blogspot.com/2008/08/homesick-or-home-sick.html

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Woke Up This Mornin'

So. It's finally over. Online, I'm seeing a lot of "YES, WE DID!" posted.

But you see, every ending is also a beginning, including - especially including - this one. "Yes, we did" makes it sound like everything's finished, and it's so not.

And yet I don't think continuing to say "Yes, we can" shows the current state of things, either. The Hunk was on the phone with a friend who said that at work, some slope-headed peabrain snarked that the US would 'go to hell in a handcart if a n--r got put in the White House.' But now it's not if but a when. Changes are happening and will continue to happen. And let's face it - our country still needs a lot of changin'.

Now it's not "Yes, we can," but "YES, WE WILL!"

Image thanks to cnn.com

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It NEVER seems to END!

Ever.

I didn't mean to stay until nearly-six today. It just kind of happened. And I know I'm going to have to stay late tomorrow.

And staying today wasn't so bad, actually. Our department had a lovely meeting - with cake and soda! yay birthdays! And we talked about the benefits and drawbacks of 4x4 block vs 6-period (maybe 7-period) full-year schedules. And we explored the idea of standards-based grading - FIRST TIME! yay! And we talked about next February's GTE conference and I so want to go!

And then I went back to the room, intending to kick out the kiddies, but they were just working so hard that I couldn't help it - I sat down and started adjusting layouts. And it was fun! I'm going to have to do some major emergency surgery on a couple of the newspaper articles... a couple of them have sentences that are sooo wrong that I can't even begin to explain what's wrong with them!

So then I finally wrote non-passes for the two students who were left and I said GO HOME. And I called in for pizza and we picked it up on the way back and I sat down and realized that I needed to go to the library tonight.

Oh well. At least now I have books to read (in my copious free time).

Image thanks to http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/

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*yawn*

Ugh. This in-betweeny stuff is annoying. I'm not quite sleepy enough to get BACK to sleep, but I keep losing at Minesweeper!

How terribly annoying.

Fortunately, I got to the library before it closed yesterday, so I'm out to the kitchen to make some hot chocolate, and then I'll pop back in here with a book. Yey!

Hope I don't wake the Hunk.

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Photo Day

Such a long, LONG day. As a result, here is all I have the energy to say: go check out the Carnival of Education.

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I don't think I slept particularly well

So after poking around here a bit, I decided I was hungry and would fix a bowl of cereal for myself. With a glass of orange juice.

Went to the cupboard, got a glass and a bowl. Went to the fridge, got the cereal off the top, poured it into the bowl. Closed the cereal, put it back. Opened the fridge, got out the orange juice, poured it over the cereal, watching to make sure I didn't spill. Noticed that something looked different...

Crap.

It's not that bad, actually.

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