Saturday, June 22, 2013

Life is not fair for zombies, either...



"The zombies are anything that comes into your life, without prejudice  and destroys it. The zombies are: Life's not fair."

Interesting article on World War Z author Max Brooks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/magazine/max-brooks-is-not-kidding-about-the-zombie-apocalypse.html?pagewanted=4&_r=2&smid=tw-nytmag&partner=socialflow


Thursday, June 20, 2013

What Do I Want To Do Better Next Year?

If I am hired as a P.E. Teacher...

  • "Health Club" (or some other cooler sounding named club/group) at least 2 days a week after school: need to get these kids moving! I'm convinced most, as in easily 90%, students do not get any exercise outside of school, or even go outside and just play. I'd like to get a bunch of the unhealthy/overweight kids together and even if all we do is walk around the field several times we can discuss healthy eating and life habits as we stroll. Be nice if we got some parents to come out in their sweatpants and walk with us. 
  • "Homework Club" -- prob focus on 4th-6th, a couple of days a week give them a quiet, organized, X-box free place to work on any assignments they have, even if it's just reading logs. Some students may be able to collaborate, some could help younger students, some will need more teacher intervention, but the priority would be the time to get tasks finished and make progress on projects to help them avoid falling behind.
  • Improved communication with parents.  I tried taking over some bulletin boards to promote health & diet information (do you really know how many calories are in a frappachino???) and list sports/fitness sign up opportunities for the YMCA, AYSO, etc., but while they looked good until the sun faded everything to pale yellow, I'm not sure how much info actually made it home and was used. Twitter? FB page? I need something to get info more directly to parents, including keeping them current on what activities we're doing in class.
  • "Word of the Week"  To tie together sports/health/school/life, just a quick word or phrase like sportsmanship or fairness to give students a little proper behavior reminder. We can even do "C-O-U-R-A-G-E" jacks after our "Wildcat Jacks"   (@ryflinn http://www.greenlocalschools.org/FlinnMr.aspx thanks for the idea)
If I get hired for a classroom...

  •  All of the above, plus...?