Has it been a week already since I last posted?
Today was one of those "teachable moments" that we have from time to time. A teachable moment is when something happens in the "real world" that can be used in the classroom. This week in World History we have been talking about Napoleon and the Nationalistic sentiments he helped to create among the masses across Europe. In the news this week were two stories that involved nationalism, so I had to take time during class to show how the concept we learn in class applies to the real world. The two events: 1) Turkey invades northern Iraq for a few hours to stop incursions by members of the PKK (Kurdish sepratists desiring their own independent nation), 2) Kosovo is on the verge of declaring their independence from Serbia. In both cases there are ethnic groups who want their own nation to defend themselves from attacks by their government. And in both cases they want land from the nations in which they currently exist.
Understandably, I was thinking about Christmas today. Children are taught from an early age that the idea of "Big Brother" is acceptable. As adults we argue against intrusive measures by government to invade our privacy. The 4th Amendment protects our privacy. Yet it is OK for Santa to watch children all year long?!?! Besides being creepy, an old man watching children, they believed that they are constantly being spied on. Is that acceptable? Or is propaganda for government agents to indoctrinate us into the idea of governmental invasion of privacy? Don't you think it is weird,
"He see you when you're sleepin, he knows if you're awake, he know if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake."
How Orwellian is that?
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
December 13, 2007
I really needed that day off on Monday! In retrospect, I was really getting maxed and didn't notice. It is amazing what that day off did for my patience. Whew.
Something really interesting and good happened yesterday. I was in the mail room with the math department chairperson. I have been meaning to send her an email to complement her department's efforts to help the students remember their important formulae for the End-of-Course exams - construction paper posters posted around the building and "Math Woman" roving the buildings and stopping students to rewards them if they knew the answer to her question. When we walked out of the mail room, Dr. Gainey, the building principal, wanted to speak with her. But before I walked off and their their conversation began, the math department chair turned to me, in front of the principal mind you, and said that she suggested her student teacher come and observe me teaching my class! Ha! That's right. The math department chair, whom the principal highly respects, thought that her student teacher would benefit from seeing me in action AND the principal was their to hear it! It doesn't get much better than that as far as timely complements go, especially after the debacle towards the end of last semester being called out on the carpet by the principal.
It seems that my tool for enforcing behavior in my Civics and Economics class is working. The students are being more respectful of each other and more mindful of what they say and when they say it. The tool is simple. No it isn't a paddle, it is a self-evaluation of Character Education. Wake County Schools emphasizes character education from Kindergarten all the way through high school. By the time the students reach 10th grade, they should be well aware of the character traits emphasized by WCPSS - courage, respect, perseverance, good judgement, honesty, integrity, kindness, responsibility, and self-discipline. At the end of each period they simply write down a number (0-4) and score themselves based on the criteria outlined on their "daily sheet." I go over each student's sheet, adjust their grades if necessary, and distribute the sheets the next day. Not only is this 10% of the student's grade for the course, but it is also evidence of student conduct in the classroom to be used during a parent conference, if necessary. I came up with the idea about 10 years ago and now I use it only in classes that need the extra motivation to cooperate. I adapted a similar tool used in foreign language classes that the teachers there use to have students evaluate themselves on their use of the foreign language in the class. And now, several teacher use this "Character Education" model to enforce rules in their classes - it seems every once in a while I have a good idea.
Something really interesting and good happened yesterday. I was in the mail room with the math department chairperson. I have been meaning to send her an email to complement her department's efforts to help the students remember their important formulae for the End-of-Course exams - construction paper posters posted around the building and "Math Woman" roving the buildings and stopping students to rewards them if they knew the answer to her question. When we walked out of the mail room, Dr. Gainey, the building principal, wanted to speak with her. But before I walked off and their their conversation began, the math department chair turned to me, in front of the principal mind you, and said that she suggested her student teacher come and observe me teaching my class! Ha! That's right. The math department chair, whom the principal highly respects, thought that her student teacher would benefit from seeing me in action AND the principal was their to hear it! It doesn't get much better than that as far as timely complements go, especially after the debacle towards the end of last semester being called out on the carpet by the principal.
It seems that my tool for enforcing behavior in my Civics and Economics class is working. The students are being more respectful of each other and more mindful of what they say and when they say it. The tool is simple. No it isn't a paddle, it is a self-evaluation of Character Education. Wake County Schools emphasizes character education from Kindergarten all the way through high school. By the time the students reach 10th grade, they should be well aware of the character traits emphasized by WCPSS - courage, respect, perseverance, good judgement, honesty, integrity, kindness, responsibility, and self-discipline. At the end of each period they simply write down a number (0-4) and score themselves based on the criteria outlined on their "daily sheet." I go over each student's sheet, adjust their grades if necessary, and distribute the sheets the next day. Not only is this 10% of the student's grade for the course, but it is also evidence of student conduct in the classroom to be used during a parent conference, if necessary. I came up with the idea about 10 years ago and now I use it only in classes that need the extra motivation to cooperate. I adapted a similar tool used in foreign language classes that the teachers there use to have students evaluate themselves on their use of the foreign language in the class. And now, several teacher use this "Character Education" model to enforce rules in their classes - it seems every once in a while I have a good idea.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
December 11, 2007
It is testing time. That is, time for the students to test me. And in return I will test them. I do not mean a formal exam, multiple choice, matching, but testing each other to see what we will do. Since I took a "mental health" day yesterday, I left work for the classes to complete in my absence. This is usually not a problem, especially for an honors class, of which I have two. So decided today to check to make sure they completed the work I left for them. I gave them a "homework quiz." This is a simple technique to determine who completed their work or homework (in my class, any work not completed in class is to be completed for homework unless otherwise instrtucted). Such a quiz is generally simple for the students who did their work. Two questions, one directly from the worksheet such as "What is the answer to question #5?" and a second question which required the students to have read the section(s) in the text book. Two questions, easy to grade and easy for the student who did their work. Their test of me was the simple question, "Were we supposed to finish it for homework? Nobody told us to." Would I give in? Would I simply concede that it had not been specifically stated the day before? No. If I do, then the students will make that the status quo and would require me to remind them every time that a classwork should be completed for homework. No better motivator for a honors student than a poor quiz grade.
This evening, after dinner, we sat around the table and made Christmas ornaments as per Evan's suggestion. It was definitely better than sitting in the office doing school work, playing video games, or watching TV. It was really nice to do something together, all too often we forget and take each other for granted. Last week Evan and I bought a gingerbread house kit, we are planning to build it this weekend.
This evening, after dinner, we sat around the table and made Christmas ornaments as per Evan's suggestion. It was definitely better than sitting in the office doing school work, playing video games, or watching TV. It was really nice to do something together, all too often we forget and take each other for granted. Last week Evan and I bought a gingerbread house kit, we are planning to build it this weekend.
Monday, December 10, 2007
December 10, 2007
Let's see if I can get back on a roll. It is that time of year, Christmas is in the air, 24/7 Christmas music on half the radio stations, crowded malls and parking lots, traffic galore, and it is going to be 80 degrees this week. Nothing quite like it! And the good news, businesses are trying to get that holiday spirit to last longer and longer each year by pushing up the date of the "holiday shopping" season. Soon, we will be Christmas shopping in 90+ degree heat on our way back from the pool with songs wanting to "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow." And if they are successful, we will enjoy the throngs of shoppers and tangles of traffic for 3 or 4 months out of the year. How exciting!
On the other hand, I guess I should consider myself pretty lucky that it is going to be so warm this week considering our heat doesn't work. It doesn't seem likely that it will be repaired but will have to be replaceed. The unit it so old that any label with a date, serial number, or part number is totally blank. The first repairman says the unit is about 18 years old (guessing it was from 1989) while the second estimates it to be about 22 years old. Either way, it is well past it's life expectancy. The problem will be convincing the home warranty company that it cannot be repaired because they will not be able to find a replacement part without a part number. These warranty companies and the local companies they contract the work out to are trying to cut their costs. In fact the local company will make less if they accept a contract from these warranty companies. As a result, they will want to get the job done it in the quickest and easiest way possible.
Speaking of that time of year, it is that time of the semester. The "honeymoon" period is definitely over inthe classrooom. Teachers have to now resort to their "bag o' tricks" in order to get the students on task and to keep them motivated to learn - which is not all that easy when you consider that the teachers are usually not all that motivated at this point either. I guess that is why I took a "mental health" day today! It becomes a downward spiral. The students, being teenagers, act as anybody can expect them too, as teenagers, their interests lying outside of the classroom. When the teacher must "fight" to keep the students working and paying attention and completing their homework, the teacher begins to feel like they are putting in more effort than the students and will want to cut back. This is usually accompanied with a lack of enthusiasm on the teacher's part which is easily noticed by the studnets who will like show a further lack of interest, and so on, and so on. Two things make this a little better: 1) the holiday spirit makes it easier to tolerate each other; 2) the semester is almost over, only about 20 days of instruction left with this group of students (or 20 days left with these teachers!) making the end in sight! Any way you slice it, the upcoming weeks are always interesting and challenging in the classroom.
On the other hand, I guess I should consider myself pretty lucky that it is going to be so warm this week considering our heat doesn't work. It doesn't seem likely that it will be repaired but will have to be replaceed. The unit it so old that any label with a date, serial number, or part number is totally blank. The first repairman says the unit is about 18 years old (guessing it was from 1989) while the second estimates it to be about 22 years old. Either way, it is well past it's life expectancy. The problem will be convincing the home warranty company that it cannot be repaired because they will not be able to find a replacement part without a part number. These warranty companies and the local companies they contract the work out to are trying to cut their costs. In fact the local company will make less if they accept a contract from these warranty companies. As a result, they will want to get the job done it in the quickest and easiest way possible.
Speaking of that time of year, it is that time of the semester. The "honeymoon" period is definitely over inthe classrooom. Teachers have to now resort to their "bag o' tricks" in order to get the students on task and to keep them motivated to learn - which is not all that easy when you consider that the teachers are usually not all that motivated at this point either. I guess that is why I took a "mental health" day today! It becomes a downward spiral. The students, being teenagers, act as anybody can expect them too, as teenagers, their interests lying outside of the classroom. When the teacher must "fight" to keep the students working and paying attention and completing their homework, the teacher begins to feel like they are putting in more effort than the students and will want to cut back. This is usually accompanied with a lack of enthusiasm on the teacher's part which is easily noticed by the studnets who will like show a further lack of interest, and so on, and so on. Two things make this a little better: 1) the holiday spirit makes it easier to tolerate each other; 2) the semester is almost over, only about 20 days of instruction left with this group of students (or 20 days left with these teachers!) making the end in sight! Any way you slice it, the upcoming weeks are always interesting and challenging in the classroom.
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