A few months ago (and sometime last year) I was sent an e-mail called "What Teachers Make." I only recently found out the name of the author of this poem (which was actually published several years ago). If you've read it, you know how funny it is. If you've not, then you are in for a treat.
I was sent a link for a video of the author himself reading the poem at an inservice. Reading it online is one thing, but hearing it said by the author himself takes it to a whole new level. The author, Taylor Mali, is not only a teacher, but a comedian, performer, and slam poetry artist. That said...
Sit back and hold on to your hats.
Enjoy and be inspired!
Showing posts with label Teacher Vision. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teacher Vision. Show all posts
May 3, 2011
April 9, 2011
Day 135: Helping Japan
A few days ago, I posted about my school's project to help Japan. Well the deadline came and went. My class raised $85 to help the victims of the earthquakes and tsunamis by doing chores/jobs around the house to "earn" five dollars.
I'm not sure what the final building total is yet, but I will let you know when I find out!
I'm not sure what the final building total is yet, but I will let you know when I find out!
December 7, 2010
Day 64: Me? Teacher Advisor?
I can say that today has been one of the most surreal days in my life. One of those "I-can't-believe-this-is-really-happening-to-ME" days. One of those days where you need to keep pinching yourself to make sure you aren't dreaming.
What has me so worked up?
Read on.
A few months ago, I applied to be on the Scholastic Teacher Advisor board. For those of you who may not be aware of what this is, it is a board of 22 teachers who have been selected from a NATIONWIDE pool to work in conjunction with Scholastic to give feedback on materials, book selections used in classrooms, and suggestions for topics/genres to be added to Scholastic's offerings.
I am pretty psyched because I was called by the woman in charge of the program. She shared that while the board has 22 members, they only selected five new teachers this year to join. AND I WAS ONE OF THOSE TEACHERS!
So in February, I will be traveling to New York to attend a conference and meet the other board members. We'll have some workshops to attend and...I'm not sure what else at this point. (The packet of info hasn't come yet.) I can honestly say that I am really looking forward to the whole process! Except for maybe the Visit. I was told today that my classroom will be visited and observed by two Scholastic staff members at some point prior to my workshop in New York. (I may be a bit of a ball of nerves the day before. You know that feeling you get when you have your formal observation done?)
I was also told that Scholastic will cover my travel, lodging, and meals. The company has us staying in SoHo at the SoHo Grand Hotel. I've been to different parts of the Big Apple, but never there. I would like to check out a few places while I'm in the area, but I have no idea of where to begin.
Do you know of any eclectic/authentic/interesting eateries I should try out? Or shops? Or bookstores? Or museums? Or anything that doesn't involve drinking or clubs? (Sorry, those just aren't my thing.) Don't be afraid to share a comment!
What has me so worked up?
Read on.
A few months ago, I applied to be on the Scholastic Teacher Advisor board. For those of you who may not be aware of what this is, it is a board of 22 teachers who have been selected from a NATIONWIDE pool to work in conjunction with Scholastic to give feedback on materials, book selections used in classrooms, and suggestions for topics/genres to be added to Scholastic's offerings.
I am pretty psyched because I was called by the woman in charge of the program. She shared that while the board has 22 members, they only selected five new teachers this year to join. AND I WAS ONE OF THOSE TEACHERS!
So in February, I will be traveling to New York to attend a conference and meet the other board members. We'll have some workshops to attend and...I'm not sure what else at this point. (The packet of info hasn't come yet.) I can honestly say that I am really looking forward to the whole process! Except for maybe the Visit. I was told today that my classroom will be visited and observed by two Scholastic staff members at some point prior to my workshop in New York. (I may be a bit of a ball of nerves the day before. You know that feeling you get when you have your formal observation done?)
I was also told that Scholastic will cover my travel, lodging, and meals. The company has us staying in SoHo at the SoHo Grand Hotel. I've been to different parts of the Big Apple, but never there. I would like to check out a few places while I'm in the area, but I have no idea of where to begin.
Do you know of any eclectic/authentic/interesting eateries I should try out? Or shops? Or bookstores? Or museums? Or anything that doesn't involve drinking or clubs? (Sorry, those just aren't my thing.) Don't be afraid to share a comment!
December 3, 2010
Day 62: Time to Celebrate!
I am bursting at the seams with excitement. I simply cannot BELIEVE it! If I weren't sitting down right now, I'd be doing a little happy dance all over my living room floor. And who knows? I just might cut a little rug after I finish this post!
What, you ask, am I SO DELIRIOUSLY HAPPY about?
Well...
Come closer...
Closer...
Lean in...
Good. Listen...
MY PROJECT THAT WAS POSTED ON DONORS CHOOSE HAS BEEN FULLY FUNDED! HOORAY!
I cannot tell you how excited I was to open the e-mail tonight and find out that my class set of Whisperphones is no longer a wish, but a dream come true! One of the donors has children who formerly attended the school where I currently teach. (I didn't have her children, though.) She called it an early Christmas present. That, I think, is the understatement of the year!
If you've never tried Donors Choose, I urge you to give it go. You may be pleasantly surprised!
Have a great weekend everybody!
What, you ask, am I SO DELIRIOUSLY HAPPY about?
Well...
Come closer...
Closer...
Lean in...
Good. Listen...
MY PROJECT THAT WAS POSTED ON DONORS CHOOSE HAS BEEN FULLY FUNDED! HOORAY!
I cannot tell you how excited I was to open the e-mail tonight and find out that my class set of Whisperphones is no longer a wish, but a dream come true! One of the donors has children who formerly attended the school where I currently teach. (I didn't have her children, though.) She called it an early Christmas present. That, I think, is the understatement of the year!
If you've never tried Donors Choose, I urge you to give it go. You may be pleasantly surprised!
Have a great weekend everybody!
December 2, 2010
Day 61: I Wish I Could Be a Fly on His Wall...
A few posts back, I told you all about a book I was reading by Rafe Esquith. I have about a quarter of the book to go before I finish it, and I tell you, I will be reading more by this teacher/author. You can find out more about him and his teaching at http://www.hobartshakespeareans.org/.
Simply put, I like the way this guy operates. Granted, I may not have all of the resources and time needed to do all of the things with my second graders that he does with his fifth graders (and some of them are not appropriate for children that young), but there are some really good ideas.
Mr. Esquith (or Rafe, as his students call him. I don't know him so I'll call him Mr. Esquith.) does what all teachers are expected to do: he teaches skills with practical application to life. Not just the "required-by-the-curriculum-and-used-by-such-and-such-method-because-administration-says-you-have-to" sort of teaching, but the teaching that adds in the "this-is-how-to-apply-what-you've-learned-to-other-areas-of-your-life-in-order-to-SURVIVE" kind of teaching.
Even with my second graders, I always relate how what they are learning will be useful to them in the future. Not in the sense of knowing it for a quiz or test, but for the practical application to things. From math skills to science, from social studies to writing in a complete sentence (that actually has a subject and predicate and makes sense!), my students know why and how these skills will help them in their everyday lives. I challenge my students to challenge their parents through homework assignments from time to time, especially if we've had a particularly interesting (and sometimes animated!) discussion on a topic. I see it as a growing experience for everyone.
One thing I can say I am a bit envious of is Mr. Esquith's permission(?) to teach for teaching's sake. Not that he doesn't have requirements through his district like we all do, but for the way he is permitted to meet and exceed those requirements. Let me explain:
In my current district, there is this idea to "teach the basics" and "Stick with the quarterly guidelines! You MUST cover this and that in THIS time period! Stay away from things that detract from learning." (In some buildings, this includes informative academic assemblies!) "Focus on math and language arts, and, if you find the time, cover science and social studies. But-! If you don't get to science and social studies, that's okay; the kids will get it later." WHAT????? My students cover every subject, every day. There's no excuse not to cover them. Yes, it may be a little harried some days, but we do it. Yet I know I work with others in my district who don't get to those subjects on a regular basis, if at all. And this is education?
In my former district/school, we really tried to have the children experience as much as possible through their learning. We had the flexibility to move around units to mirror skills. (Ex.: We had a unit in our science series that covered dinosaurs. We also had a unit in our language arts series that covered dinosaurs. We moved the science unit (by a whole quarter) so we could teach it during the dinosaur unit in language arts. For math, we had measurement around that time, so we took dinosaur lengths from our science text and other supporting texts and measured them in the main hallway. We wrote reports. We made fossils. We made models. We learned and had FUN while doing it!) My second graders (yes, even there!) learned so much about dinosaurs. But they also learned processes, how to gather and organize data, teamwork, planning and organization, and a host of other skills. My colleagues and I did this type of thing for every skill/unit we taught. This kind of teaching was encouraged.
Even if you may be faced with beaurocratic with roadblocks, there are ways to be creative with your students and help them along. I use a lot of examples, projects, video clips, stories...basically anything I can get my hands on to help my students grasp the information I am sharing with them. I know you all do, too.
So to you, I say, "Go on with your bad self and teach those children!"
Be creative! Have fun! Be brilliant!
Simply put, I like the way this guy operates. Granted, I may not have all of the resources and time needed to do all of the things with my second graders that he does with his fifth graders (and some of them are not appropriate for children that young), but there are some really good ideas.
Mr. Esquith (or Rafe, as his students call him. I don't know him so I'll call him Mr. Esquith.) does what all teachers are expected to do: he teaches skills with practical application to life. Not just the "required-by-the-curriculum-and-used-by-such-and-such-method-because-administration-says-you-have-to" sort of teaching, but the teaching that adds in the "this-is-how-to-apply-what-you've-learned-to-other-areas-of-your-life-in-order-to-SURVIVE" kind of teaching.
Even with my second graders, I always relate how what they are learning will be useful to them in the future. Not in the sense of knowing it for a quiz or test, but for the practical application to things. From math skills to science, from social studies to writing in a complete sentence (that actually has a subject and predicate and makes sense!), my students know why and how these skills will help them in their everyday lives. I challenge my students to challenge their parents through homework assignments from time to time, especially if we've had a particularly interesting (and sometimes animated!) discussion on a topic. I see it as a growing experience for everyone.
One thing I can say I am a bit envious of is Mr. Esquith's permission(?) to teach for teaching's sake. Not that he doesn't have requirements through his district like we all do, but for the way he is permitted to meet and exceed those requirements. Let me explain:
In my current district, there is this idea to "teach the basics" and "Stick with the quarterly guidelines! You MUST cover this and that in THIS time period! Stay away from things that detract from learning." (In some buildings, this includes informative academic assemblies!) "Focus on math and language arts, and, if you find the time, cover science and social studies. But-! If you don't get to science and social studies, that's okay; the kids will get it later." WHAT????? My students cover every subject, every day. There's no excuse not to cover them. Yes, it may be a little harried some days, but we do it. Yet I know I work with others in my district who don't get to those subjects on a regular basis, if at all. And this is education?
In my former district/school, we really tried to have the children experience as much as possible through their learning. We had the flexibility to move around units to mirror skills. (Ex.: We had a unit in our science series that covered dinosaurs. We also had a unit in our language arts series that covered dinosaurs. We moved the science unit (by a whole quarter) so we could teach it during the dinosaur unit in language arts. For math, we had measurement around that time, so we took dinosaur lengths from our science text and other supporting texts and measured them in the main hallway. We wrote reports. We made fossils. We made models. We learned and had FUN while doing it!) My second graders (yes, even there!) learned so much about dinosaurs. But they also learned processes, how to gather and organize data, teamwork, planning and organization, and a host of other skills. My colleagues and I did this type of thing for every skill/unit we taught. This kind of teaching was encouraged.
Even if you may be faced with beaurocratic with roadblocks, there are ways to be creative with your students and help them along. I use a lot of examples, projects, video clips, stories...basically anything I can get my hands on to help my students grasp the information I am sharing with them. I know you all do, too.
So to you, I say, "Go on with your bad self and teach those children!"
Be creative! Have fun! Be brilliant!
September 29, 2010
Day 22: Superpowers
How is it that small children think they can get away with things or get over on us "unsuspecting" adults? You know, sort of like when you send your child up to take a shower only to have the same child emerge from the bathroom in five minutes claiming to be clean? Only you know they're not really clean because on closer inspection you notice:
a. There is no scent of soap in the air.
b. The washcloth is in the same spot it was in before--and it isn't even wet!
c. The mirrors are not steamy.
d. The towel, floor, and bath mat are still bone dry.
And when you confront said child, they deny the fact that there was any wrongdoing or untruths told. But when the evidence is pointed out, the child seems so surprised that s/he has been found out! This never ceases to amaze me.
The same can be said for the lovely little darlings you teach all day long. Rest assured, there are going to be times when you will look at the child and think, "How on earth did you think you were going to get away with THAT?"
Two examples come to mind as I write this post:
Example 1:
Our school has adopted a daily Independent Reading Time. For about 20 minutes, the class is to read a book on his/her guided reading and interest level. After reading, students are to fill in a section in a journal about the book. Some days I ask the students to write about a favorite part, what a character does or looks like, the setting, etc. It's a good exercise in literature study and a way to practice the reading strategies we are learning in class. Other days I ask the students to conference with me about their books. This is what we've been doing this week.
On Monday I assigned a book to a student. On Tuesday, this same student came to me and said the book was read. I looked at where the bookmark was--page 86. I knew good and well this child did not read 86 pages in 20 minutes' time. (The books are only read during that block of time each day; students have other books for silent reading.) So I called him on it by asking him to give me a summary of what he'd read so far. He immediately begins flipping through the pages and fumbling through his explanation. About a minute in, I stopped him and politely told him that I knew he didn't read the book. (Insert surprised look here.) I also told him that reading the text is not the same as looking at the pictures because there are no details to support what the pictures are showing. I then told him I don't appreciate dishonesty and if it happened again there would be consequences. (Insert gulp here.) The conversation ended with me telling him to go back to the first page of the book and begin reading because he would be my first conference the next morning. (Insert shock and more surprise here.) Lesson learned.
Example 2:
Today, I was working with some of my students who need extra help during a quiz. The students who finished were to complete their morning work (a math exercise, daily edit pages, and journal) before moving onto silent reading. One student turns in her quiz and promptly brings out her silent reading book. I asked her if she was finished with her morning work (I knew she wasn't.). Her response, quick as a wink, "Yes." (Insert look of innocence here.) Hmmm. So I asked her if I could check it over real quick. (Insert panicked look here.) Then something amazing happened. She miraculously remembered that she still had part of her daily edit pages to finish, as well as a few math problems. (Insert motion of hitting head with palm of hand.) Right. I politely told her the same speech about lying and consequences. (Insert guilty look.) She got right to work.
The funny thing is, as I was talking to her, there were a few others who weren't quite finished either and I could see them "nonchalantly" following our conversation. (Insert furtive glances here.) When I asked if I could check over her work, they got to theirs, all the while peeking over their shoulders to see if I was coming to look at theirs. Because I was in the middle of helping two folks with a quiz, I didn't, but usually I do. You gotta keep them on their toes.
It's also funny because little children haven't quite figured out how to whisper, so I sometimes overhear them asking each other how I knew such and such.
How indeed? Superpowers, children. Superpowers.
a. There is no scent of soap in the air.
b. The washcloth is in the same spot it was in before--and it isn't even wet!
c. The mirrors are not steamy.
d. The towel, floor, and bath mat are still bone dry.
And when you confront said child, they deny the fact that there was any wrongdoing or untruths told. But when the evidence is pointed out, the child seems so surprised that s/he has been found out! This never ceases to amaze me.
The same can be said for the lovely little darlings you teach all day long. Rest assured, there are going to be times when you will look at the child and think, "How on earth did you think you were going to get away with THAT?"
Two examples come to mind as I write this post:
Example 1:
Our school has adopted a daily Independent Reading Time. For about 20 minutes, the class is to read a book on his/her guided reading and interest level. After reading, students are to fill in a section in a journal about the book. Some days I ask the students to write about a favorite part, what a character does or looks like, the setting, etc. It's a good exercise in literature study and a way to practice the reading strategies we are learning in class. Other days I ask the students to conference with me about their books. This is what we've been doing this week.
On Monday I assigned a book to a student. On Tuesday, this same student came to me and said the book was read. I looked at where the bookmark was--page 86. I knew good and well this child did not read 86 pages in 20 minutes' time. (The books are only read during that block of time each day; students have other books for silent reading.) So I called him on it by asking him to give me a summary of what he'd read so far. He immediately begins flipping through the pages and fumbling through his explanation. About a minute in, I stopped him and politely told him that I knew he didn't read the book. (Insert surprised look here.) I also told him that reading the text is not the same as looking at the pictures because there are no details to support what the pictures are showing. I then told him I don't appreciate dishonesty and if it happened again there would be consequences. (Insert gulp here.) The conversation ended with me telling him to go back to the first page of the book and begin reading because he would be my first conference the next morning. (Insert shock and more surprise here.) Lesson learned.
Example 2:
Today, I was working with some of my students who need extra help during a quiz. The students who finished were to complete their morning work (a math exercise, daily edit pages, and journal) before moving onto silent reading. One student turns in her quiz and promptly brings out her silent reading book. I asked her if she was finished with her morning work (I knew she wasn't.). Her response, quick as a wink, "Yes." (Insert look of innocence here.) Hmmm. So I asked her if I could check it over real quick. (Insert panicked look here.) Then something amazing happened. She miraculously remembered that she still had part of her daily edit pages to finish, as well as a few math problems. (Insert motion of hitting head with palm of hand.) Right. I politely told her the same speech about lying and consequences. (Insert guilty look.) She got right to work.
The funny thing is, as I was talking to her, there were a few others who weren't quite finished either and I could see them "nonchalantly" following our conversation. (Insert furtive glances here.) When I asked if I could check over her work, they got to theirs, all the while peeking over their shoulders to see if I was coming to look at theirs. Because I was in the middle of helping two folks with a quiz, I didn't, but usually I do. You gotta keep them on their toes.
It's also funny because little children haven't quite figured out how to whisper, so I sometimes overhear them asking each other how I knew such and such.
How indeed? Superpowers, children. Superpowers.
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