Things My Students Will Do

• Teach each other. I will never be the only Educator in the room, every single student needs to be aware of and responsible for not only their own learning but also for their classmates'. They are all experts on something, probably several things, and how could they not be eager to learn if they get to pick the subject? What better way to learn more/deeper than by researching, studying, and teaching something they enjoy? 
• Be confused. Perplexed. Stymied. Frustrated. Resilient. My sons cannot tell you how many times they've heard the phrases "Look it up" or "Figure it out" as my answer to their questions. This connects to classroom management (sharp pencils, what page are we on, how to spell...) and learning to think through difficult work and persevere toward an solution. Real world problems, project based learning, choices on how to demonstrate learning, high standards and expectations. There's word going around education idea circles that fits right into this and students definitely need more: grit. 
• Always be doing something. Not that independent reading isn't awesome, but when finished with the assignment is that all there is to do? And won't those students eagerly pulling a book out get their reading time in anyway? But no, you will not see stacks of worksheets in my classroom... The Must Do/May Do list will have lots of producing, collaborating, evidence finding, problem solving, creating choices.

I Want To Be Subversive

What do you want your students to be able to do, not by the end of the year, but in 2026?

I love this woman. I want to be this teacher.

Middle School: Heaven or Hell?

Teaching middle schoolers. 6th to 8th grade. 11-14 year olds. For me the question was really
Hell, or a deeper level of Hell?

When I got into teaching I always saw myself as a 3rd to 5th grade teacher, I was not interested at all in middle or high school. Two of my sons have hit those grade levels while I've gone through credentialing and subbing, but they weren't what made me shudder at the thought of 30+ 7th graders 6 times a day, it was their classmates. Kids will be kids, teenage boys will be teenage boys, but I wanted no part of trying to teach them. Add in teenage girls? No. Thank. You.

Which makes me laugh every time I sub in one of our middle school classes and come to the end of the day thinking  It would be so cool to teach this subject/grade/kids! It probably has a lot to do with knowing these students, some were in my first real class ever and all the 6th graders I had last year for P.E., and being able to treat them as young people, not just bodies in the way of a smooth day. Part of it has to do with a feeling, almost a mantra, I've had since seeing poor teachers in my children's lives: I can do better. Maybe it comes from a background in the cutthroat worlds of both sports and retail, but I usually feel I can teach these students more and teach them better. Athletics and retail management require constant adjustment and improvement, the seeking of better methods, better practice, better results, and the harsh reality that those results must be more efficient and effective than others' or you lose ("others" in education being Hollywood, hormones, Snapchat, e-cigs, etc.). At my school it's less I can do better and mostly I want to be a part of this as I see first hand in their classrooms, in their conversations, and in their students how these teachers are constantly trying to find what works and what will work better.

So middle school wouldn't be too bad after all.

Whiteboard Word Wall

Just an idea...

Word Wall, pref on a whiteboard but that large paper sheet would work too -- students add words, can add definitions, syn/ant, illustrations, draw arrows/bridges to connect to other words, list examples of use/quotes from text -- fic or nonfic. Can even add word/def in native lang for ELs.
When board/paper/space is full take a pic and add to a slide show (accessible thru Google docs?) for viewing/study/reference.

Hmmm... I think my sons need to work up an example of this. They love summer projects!

Reading for my GATE Cert. class sometimes leads to too many ideas/distractions, but I guess I'd rather be distracted by ideas than be bored and finish quickly.

The Final Days...

Yeah, yeah, I know most teachers are out for the summer break. I've read your "beach-bound!" tweets, seen your "feet up!" photos, hid your "margaritas at 11am!" status updates. Whatever.

But some of us are still working. We still have 4 weeks to go, 18 teaching days. Last year at this time I was passing fellow teachers in the halls and wondering what these seemingly secret but special numbers they whispered 13, 12, 11.... I was stressing over finishing the Math book and panicking over my first report cards while they had a semi-delirious smile 9, 8, 7... I was wondering how in the world I could get my students ready for 6th grade/middle school/college valedictorian/Nobel acceptance speeches in just two weeks-- ah, that's what the magic numbers were: The Countdown. The Final Days. How many days left until "Julyteenth" and the freedom of summer break!   4, 3, 2...

Needless to say, I was not ready for summer break.  I did not want summer break.  I was not ready to let go of this life-altering wonderful experience called "Finally, My Own Classroom." Not only was I not ready to give up the keys to the classroom, I wasn't ready to let my first batch of students get on with their (academic) lives without me. But there was no stemming the tide of calendar pages gleefully ripped off and tossed to the ground, the end of the school year was going to happen whether I was ready or not. *sigh*

This year, however, I am looking forward to summer. Except for the part where I must update resume, search for jobs, cross fingers I get called in to sweat and stammer through an interview for a job I won't get, of course, but the rest of summer I am totally ready for.  I love, love love, being a P.E. Teacher but there are only so many days one can stand in the sun and wind on the blacktop or dirt field and not feel that one's lungs, skin, and arches will soon rebel. I need some beach time, some reading time, some hang with my sons time. Since I don't know where I'll be next year I'm sad I may be leaving these awesome students and this awesome school, but I still get a smile looking forward to a break.

But anywho... circling back to what I intended to write: Some of us are still working. School is not out, not yet. But since it's close I'm hearing those words that have bothered me: What's left to teach? I finished the text! Movie Day! Nothin' going on today. Stopping by our party? And that's just from the teachers... It killed me most years to send my sons to school the last week since it seemed all they did was watch movies and eat cupcakes. It's funny how teachers will bemoan how students do not read outside of school, they get no music or art outside of school, some would never go to the zoo or even the beach (yes, even living 10 mins away) if not for a field trip, yet do they think children don't eat pizza and waste time? I know my students rarely get outside and play games at home and very, very few play any organized sports, so why would I do anything except try to keep them moving every possible minute I can?

Similar and interesting conversation on Twitter related to report cards being completed weeks before school's end and passed out before last day (Thanks, @bloggucation) -- why send your student to school except for the free babysitting? Maybe I'm too new a teacher to understand the intricacies of dealing with a classroom 20-40 children for 9 months, but isn't the purpose of school to educate students? Yes they need a break once in awhile, we can't push.push every minute, but I think we're teaching students to "check out" too often. Every Friday play time for turning in your homework? The reward for doing your work isn't the learning, it doesn't lead to curiosity, the drive to excel or learn more, to better communication/understanding, it leads to getting to stop doing school work and have more recess! No wonder the recent news reports show 70% of Americans are not engaged in their work/careers, that's what we're teaching them in school.

Am I just on an uninformed rant here? Is there a way, or even a need, to balance free time and learning time at school? Am I just an anti-birthday party Scrooge? Hmmm...

Classroom Photos

Too much? Too cluttered? Too yellow?

Bonus points for finding WHERE the events from CNN Student News or anything else covered in class actually is. Twenty push-ups if you cannot find where you live.

I like maps.

Thank you Wonderopolis for the Spring Break Homework inspiration.

 That's as clean as it was gonna get. Eww, hope I didn't leave the apples there.

Mr. Nauton's Wildcats

Don't shut me down, Blogger, but I went over to edublogs for the classroom website, just seemed a little more appropriate and less apt to get me in trouble when the students start clicking "Next Blog"...

Any suggestions, besides change the darn ugly colors? Do students get anything out blogging? I'm thinking publishing, editing, commenting, internet safety, as well as a place I can post links of interest for them.