A Swinger of Birches
I can’t forget what I saw today; so many teachers punish their students for their own shortcomings. It is their own fault when they can’t manage their classrooms, and then they take away privileges and talk down to their students. Great teachers…
(Source: thisdelicatereprieve)
GPOY at work today.
I am at a loss with one of my classes. As a whole, they refuse to follow procedures and expectations. I have tried everything I know to try- reteaching procedures, explaining the reasoning behind them, practicing them repeatedly, calling and conferencing with more parents than I have in the rest of my career combined, calling team meetings to discuss expectations, positive incentives and rewards, revoking privileges, different styles of teaching and activities- nothing seems to last longer than the immediate class period. The next day I’m starting all over again. On top of that, this class fights. Constantly. I hear “shut up” and “no, you shut up” and “get off my stuff” and “give that back” and “she hit me” constantly. I can’t seem to get through to them about compassion. Or the difference between tattling and important information.
My other classes are fine. I can’t keep going the way I’ve been going with this one. I don’t know what to do. What are your thoughts and ideas, Tumblr education?
I can’t figure out how to let EVERYONE reply to that with the new format. So send any and all suggestions to my ask box please. Thanks :)
My students had a comparison activity today that required them to make their own analogies. It was so much fun to talk about their answers!
I enjoy how creative they are when given the chance. They came up with perfect analogies that I would never have thought of. They could (for the most part) articulately explain their reasoning. I was so impressed and proud because they clearly mastered what I was trying to teach.
On top of that, I enjoyed learning about them. Everyone made different analogies based on their own personal experiences. I was able to learn something personal about most of my students when they explained why they chose a specific comparison. It’s so easy to see my students as a single unit that I have to teach. It’s more challenging, but so much more rewarding, to have a lesson like today’s in which I get to see them as individual people. And I think they enjoy being heard.
A good day :)
Tupperware hierarchies are great for teaching novels!
This is excellent! I’ve been trying to stress this idea with my kiddos because they don’t understand the difference between country, state, county, city when they come to me. The World - North America - United States - Individual State - County - City.
If I wanted to really send it home I could have stations and sugar cookies. One option is each group has to cut the dough by tracing templates and put them in the right box, then label the box. I could take them home, bake them, and bring them back the next day for decorating. They’d have to then label each cookie with the proper name (North America / Continent, State / Colorado, etc.) Or I could skip the cutting and just do the latter. Another option would be each student has to make and label their templates for each, then cut their cookies and sort them (could be a race, too). So many fun options!
Hey teachers- this is cool. And totally adaptable to any content!
The staff at Sandy Hook today, the teachers but anyone involved with the students, they are heroes, and they are heroes in a way that is part of their job and not expected but always planned for.
When you become part of a school you learn lockdown procedures. When you’re with a class…
This.
