Day Four

I'm too tired for Day Four.

That, and American Idol is on.

G'nite.

Day Three

Okay, sounds like I'm teaching my first lesson tomorrow-- something about verbs and subjects, and how they are supposed to agree...

3 days in and not totally comfortable yet, but I do know most of the students' names; the 6 that start with K get me confused. I get the feeling my Master Teacher ("MT" from here on out) would like me to take over as much as I want as soon as I want, which part of me feels like resisting while I know it's probably the best way -- jump in the water and just start paddling...

One very important subject not discussed in any class so far, and I would think at least one of you "fount of wisdom and experience" education experts would think to bring this up somewhere along the line: holy urinal cakes, when do you take a bathroom break?!?!?

Digital Learners

here's a cool blog from a student teacher, with an interesting "engage me" video encouraging the use of technology in the classroom:

"Today Miss V. taught me..."

I don't see a lot of technology at my new school, but it has only been 2 days; still, I hope I get to use the overhead projector this week!

Reading List

glad it's a 3-day weekend* so I can get some reading done:

• What Your 5th Grader Needs to Know
• Everything Your 6th Grader Needs to Know ('cause I want my 5th graders to be smarter than the average bear student)
• Everyday Mathematics
• Houghton Mifflin** Reading
• several juvenile books grabbed from the library on the Rev. War, including Longfellow's The Midnight Ride... which I may get to read to the class this week; strange coincidence (or is it?) that I just finished Johnny Tremain before getting assigned a class studying Paul Revere...

*and not just because I "worked" 2 days in a row and -- whew! -- I'm exhausted...
** isn't that the company from "The Office"?

Do I get Extra Credit for all the Blogs I Read?

I probably spend too much time cruising through various blogs and websites, or linking them to my iGoogle and multitude of blogs, but to be fair most of them do relate to education. I have found a wealth of practical knowledge and advice as well as lesson plans and classroom management tools, and although I may never be in the same half of the U.S., let alone the same school district, as some of the people I read, there is a sense of communication and community that many feel is integral to becoming a complete educator.

But sometimes I realize an hour has gone by and because I haven't completed a chapter in a text book or written a full page of an assignment, I feel as if I've wasted time (yet again)-- are blogs merely empty calories? Is online information the same as grabbing US magazine instead of a literacy assessment guide? Is it all attractive colors and fonts, and the ease of reading without truly digesting (as well as the convenience of being able to click back and forth between Facebook and LibraryThing) that lends itself to going online rather than cracking the spine on a textbook?

Anyway, saw this excellent post on The Cornerstone Blog regarding testing and how to help students (and teachers) survive with wits intact...

Day Two

felt more comfortable, still observed a lot but walked around the desks more, offering help and asserting my teacher-ness; if some of the students think I mumble incoherently to myself, it was only in attempting to memorize all their names. I am traditionally/habitually terrible with remembering names, but refuse to take the generic nick-name route -- "Hey Sport/Dude/Missy," "Good Morning, Slick/Champ/Kiddo" -- so I try to be sly glancing at the class picture taped to the back cabinet before I venture out among the nameless mass...