Many Points

As a learner, learning in and of itself gave me joy.  I admit, I do not understand how it could not!  But, I do understand that, at least for the majority of the students that I see each year, it does not. Well, not at least the learning in the way it comes from the curriculum. SmartBoard presentations, Power Points or Slide presentations, even with bells and whistles, is just the same old same old, with noise. I know that challenge works, my students tell me.  But not the challenge of another long math problem out of context.  In some ways, my students are very savvy.  They want to know why, like we all do, and they want to SEE it, in action, in some real world application where they can work together to come up with an answer. And yes, they would LOVE for me to do the work, at the beginning. I taught a group of students how to juggle this year.  Some did not quite get it, and could only toss and catch two scarves.  Marvelous!  They did...

I started this year with an idea, an idea that learning was going to be fun.  Even bigger, learning MATH was going to be fun.  We built towers and houses, even a website and a game.  Students asked questions, worked together, shared ideas, laughed, and learned math.  We used math vocabulary to describe what we were doing, and my students had fun.  It was first semester. Second semester came, and with it, major changes.  I had to let go of some content and embrace a different paradigm for DAEP school.  I now supervise independent learning for some students, while teaching others.  I may have less content, but I have more record keeping (have I mentioned that I am not very good at record keeping?)  My days seem longer and I have noticed that I have fallen into the trap of "direct teaching" for an entire class period.  This new group of students gives an appearance of not wanting to fall behind, but grades for the previous semester sugges...

The end of summer vacation is here.  There are those of us teachers who are rested and ready to go.  There are those of us teachers who are not so rested, and ready to go.  Sadly, there are those of us teachers, rested or not, who are not ready to go.  In whichever group you find yourself, the year begins anyway, and I am going to begin it with a smile. Smiling is so important. I am, in general, a fairly happy person.  I think I smile, a lot.  I have, unfortunately, had a few students ask why I do NOT smile.  That always makes me take a step back and think.  It always makes me wonder what is going on in my head and heart that is begin reflected in my face.  And it always makes me a bit sad. I started this post in AUGUST, and never finished. Funny how time gets away from me like that. I do believe I started this year with a smile, and kept it going.  I made it a point to have fun at the beginning of every class and carry that fun thro...

"Be the change you wish to see in the world," is not exactly a Gandhi quote, although it is attributed to him.  Whether it is or it is not, I am here to suggest that we in education change it ... Be the change you wish to see in EDUCATION. or Be the change you wish to see in your CLASSROOM. I am a classroom teacher.  Most of the time I feel quite incapable of changing anything within my district, or my school, much less the state or the country.  But I can BE the change I desire,  It can start with me. For example, if I truly believe that students learn in relationships, then I will work hard to form educational relationships with my students.  Sometimes it may seem that there is too much curriculum, or too many worksheets, or too many absences to be able to ¨relate" to my students, too much other "stuff" to spend time on to get my students on my side.  And even though it seems that way, I can CHOOSE to build those relationships anyway! In my clas...