Wiki your classroom!

Awesome ideas for getting students to create and collaborate online, thanks to the Web 2.0 Class blog...

From the classes I've taught in the past 2 years I can see where options like these need to exist, at the very least, for those students who finish early, understand quickly, need a challenge, etc. etc.... #1 question I'm asked by students? Easy: Can I use the computer?*  I flat-out say no 99% of the time because I know they are only going to play games or sneak onto a music/mail/whatever site they aren't supposed to.  But what if they could run their own wiki?  Do meaningful research? Create or compose? The possibilities are, of course, endless...

I'm still working on my Year in Review (actually, I'm still working -- 3 more weeks of school), attempting to process all I've experienced and learned during this 1st year of full time (sort of) subbing.  And I definitely still don't feel like a teacher, nor feel I am in any position experience/knowledge/skill -wise to make sweeping judgments and claim to have the answers for what ails Education. (you know a "but" is coming, don't you?) But...

I do wonder why 1) some classrooms are so loud, distracted, unruly, disrupted, talkative? Is it just the way kids are?  Is it because they have a sub? Is it a teacher or parent or school culture problem?

2) why is there so much wasted/lost time during the school day? Does it really take that long to get started, to switch subject materials, to understand directions?  How much of question #2 is in direct correlation to #1?

Hmmm...


*provided of course the classroom does have working computers.  Love the district that chose to spend the $$$ on a large screen TV (aka "dust catcher"or "movie screen") instead of enough computers to be worthwhile...

Inspired to Teach

I feel fractured sometimes, or at least multiple-personalitied: 5 blogs, 4 Facebook pages, LibraryThing, Twitter (which I rarely post or check anymore)... half the time I find myself deleting posts or links because I put a book review or football drills on The Wife's hairdresser page.  I'm sooooo confuuuuused...

Anyway, I'm trying to create a FB page and have all my Teacher/Education/Children's Book* stuff, such as blog posts and cool stuff I find on other blogs and sites, go to one central hub.  Don't know if I'm doing it right, is there a way to quickly/automatically link/share eveything to a FB page? Hmmm...

Introducing  Inspired to Teach  the facebook page, aka "The Hub" ???  Ideas and suggestions always appreciated...

Wonder Walls and Imitosis

Should be working on cover letters, but instead fighting the urge to pick up my Father's Day gift by visiting cool Education sites and stealing collecting, graciously and gratefully, ideas such as the Wonder Wall .  Also found some awesome music by Andrew Bird* here on this cool video of a teacher's empty but always busy classroom, and virtual post-it notes.

The "Wonder Wall" is similar to something I had thought of before, and it comes more from being a father than a teacher: children are capable of asking over 1 million questions in a single day! Multiply that by a room full of 2nd graders and you can see how easy it is to drown in question marks... I plan on having a wall dedicated to questions students ask, with room for the answers.  Maybe we don't get to the answer right away, I can't let them get me started on Why is the moon so bright? when the curriculum calls for 3-digit addition, but by the end of the year we should have answered them all.  I think I'll have volunteer student "experts" assigned in September so if a stegosaurus question does come up and Jimmy has read every dinosaur book in the Library he can give a mini presentation and answer the question.
Someday...


* and I thought I'd learned a new word, the video's soundtrack is titled "Imitosis" -- but can't find it in the dictionary?

Resume time!

Not that I really have any hope of getting a classroom of my own, but I did include lottery tickets for all 2nd-5th grade teachers at each school I sent resumes to. I figure if enough of them win big and retire, the more openings for me! All I need is one job, just one...

Blog plus Facebook plus Twitter plus ...?

Is there a way to connect them all so a blog post feeds into a FB group page? Or visa versa? Playing around with it instead of while working on resumes...

Finally!

Not to knock anyone, but -- aw heck, no one I'm talking about will ever read this, so I'll knock and knock hard: there are some lousy, awful substitute teachers out there!  One of the reasons I got into this gig was the subs I saw (or didn't saw, many never bothered to show up for their assignments) at my sons' school. I thought Hey, I could do a better job than that!  I can hang out with kids, leave work in the afternoon, and have weekends and holidays off -- and no folding shirts!*

Not only could I do that, but I also knew I could teach those kids something, even if I had to make it up as I went along or simply read the text book with them, which was the reason they were there IN SCHOOL in the first place!  Some subs seem to think students never get to see movies at home or get to talk to their friends, poor things...

Anyway, the point of the post was to be "Finally" ...after volunteering, observations, college degree, waiting, pink slips and budget cuts, more volunteering and observations, I am finally able to be a Substitute at my sons' school.  It seems every district in the County had jobs for me but this one, and I was waaaaaaay down on the seniority list, but now I have had several jobs at various grade levels and should be able to work some on into July.

And my 3rd grader comes and eats lunch with me. : )


* I was a sales manager for Robinson's May/Macy's and have folded more shirts in a day than most people will in a lifetime... I am not proud of this fact, although I am a damn good shirt folder.

Pimp the Unshelved Website

I'm not a Librarian, but spend enough time paying late fees to them to appreciate the humorous situations in these comic strips, not to mention the great book suggestions every week...

check them out:  Unshelved

Armando Galarraga vs. Reggie Bush

One of those weeks when I wish I had a classroom or a team -- what a powerful lesson (not that I've worked out the details yet) on sportsmanship and doing the right thing: Galarraga, Jim Joyce, and the Perfect Game that wasn't vs. USC, Reggie, and the Heisman/National Title that are no longer...

playing telephone

I could not for the life of me figure out why this student had a U-shaped piece of pvc in her desk, and after telling her to put it away three times during the day I finally asked -- what are you doing with a U-shaped piece of pipe in your desk?!?!?

Then half the class ran over to a big cabinet drawer full of the white plastic mysteries, and showed me how they read to themselves holding the pipe like a telephone (although a much larger phone than any of these digital children have ever used!) -- their whispered voices went right into the pvc and around the bend to their ear so they could perfectly hear what and how they were reading. Amazing!

I certainly do not recommend using anything that has been attached underneath your sink, and I'm sure there are copyrighted name brand models in those educational supply catalogs, but this teacher had simply bought bright white 2" P-traps and let the kids start reading!

"Thank you for your idea"

How to Teach Math as a Social Activity | Edutopia

from the edutopia website

Roosevelt Franklin!

hmm... need to work on the sizing issues. Sorry.

Thanks to One Album a Day for this blast from the past!

One of those days...

I know they're just 6th graders, but do they have to be such... 6th graders?!?!?

I was looking forward today too -- the boys' school, Science and English periods, figurative language  (onomatopoeia! alliteration!) -- but it's so hard to teach while repeatedly saying "Shhhh!"