Monthly Archives: February 2009

“I like the old ones better.”

February 23, 2009
By
“I like the old ones better.”

How did it get to be the 23rd? Jeeze Louise, I have been out to lunch lately… Well they say that the longer you teach a particular grade level, they more you become like the students. I already had a head start on that before I started teaching 7th graders. Have I already said that 7th graders are some of the most conservative people on the planet? Well, I’m going to say it again. Seventh graders are some of the most conservative people on the planet. By conservative, I mean resistant to change. I know I have said that middle schoolers crave routine, even as they claim they don’t. Well, this quality has been on full display for the past couple of days, because I borrowed a set of another, more high-tech version of CPS clickers, and we’ve been test-driving them. Watching the kids’ reactions has been just as much fun as playing with the new clickers. They (the new clickers) look quite different from the ones we’ve been using. The first kid through the door stops at the clicker bag and does a classic cartoon double-take. “I like the old ones better. These are too big.” (me) “No, they’re

Read more »

“That’s student teacher, not guest teacher.”

February 17, 2009
By

“They asked me to take a student teacher, and for once, I want to know what you think.” “What’s that mean?” “The student teacher part, or the part about asking your opinion?” “What?” “Never mind. For a while she would watch how we do things, and then I would watch her as she took over, and then I would leave, and she would be running the show.” Politeness Girl had tears in her eyes. (me: sniff.) “Would they know how to use the clickers?” “I guess we could teach her stuff like clickers and the LCD projector.” “What about the nutty videos?” “I doubt it.” “NOOOOO!” “What about SSI? Would she make us do SSI?” “I guess that would be up to her. Maybe she would have her own way of getting you to study.” “YAY!” “What about rating us from 1-10 and having to get an 8 and all that? That’s hard!” “We’re talking about a student teacher, not a guest teacher.” “Oh. YAY!” “Thanks a lot. I’ll miss you too.” I usually have a policy of only accepting full-time student teachers; I can’t find my groove in half a day, and invariably they’re taking other classes, and always

Read more »

Flash(way)Back II

February 12, 2009
By

Ok, back to my story.  So after the fine phone call that started my Friday, I go up to the office to let the secretaries know that a representative of our city’s finest might be paying me a visit. First they think I’m joking, they they start razzing me, “Cops comin’ for you again Coward?” “Same same since seventh grade.” “What?” It was 1974, and I was late for school. I hate being late. For anything. Even school, even then. I was riding my bike as usual, and in 1974, we didn’t wear helmets, let alone worry about which side of the road we were riding on, and we thought stop signs were for cars and losers. Today, the road I was on the wrong side of is 4 lanes wide, and the light I ran controls one of the busiest intersections (the cross street is 6 lanes now) in my old hometown. Back then, it was a mere 2 lanes (plus the turn lane) I was crossing against the light. I got across without a care, though that was probably because I didn’t look. I was looking a block ahead, and I could see them lining up outside in

Read more »

“We interrupt this tragedy to bring you some comedy…”

February 8, 2009
By

Selected exchanges from Friday’s mental floss: What musical instruments are represented below? a)  P O b)  BA BA c)   ECLART d)  @ # $ % “What do you mean, P an’ O?” “John just gave us the answer, didn’t he?” “I did? Make me say it again.” “The answer to B is not sheep.” (Half the class) “D’oh!” (Furious erasing and crossing out.) “Since when is a sheep a musical instrument?” One genius did say, “Bagpipes!” Add together each of the defined words to get a whole new word. Example: to shout + what you say when you feel pain = yellow. a) A light brown color + to leave = b) Vehicle + an animal pal = c) A store’s announcement + a type of women’s clothing  = “What’s a pall?” “That’s pal.” “What’s a pal?” Furious waving to be the first one for c. “SignBra!” Wacky Wordy: What phrase is represented by the following? Look kool XtXhXeXrXoXaXdX “Look cool!” “What about the rest of it?” “If you look cool, you don’t need it.” For more mental floss, head on over to Brainscramble.com.

Read more »

Flash(way)Back

February 6, 2009
By

Today the cops came for me at school. Wow, that’s a pretty dramatic opening for a teacher blog entry. With any luck*, visions of God-knows-what are flashing through your head right now. “What did he do? Did they haul him off in handcuffs in front of his students? OMG, will his next post be from the cooler?” The reality wasn’t quite so dramatic, though the front office staff got quite a charge out of it. Actually, it was only one officer. And he left his number, instead of leaving with me. But it took me right back to when I was in seventh grade. That was the last time the cops showed up for me at school. Yep, this post isn’t about my class or teaching, this is all about me. I got a phone call at school at 7:30 in the morning. This in itself is a bit unusual, because I don’t really talk on the phone (no, I don’t own a cell phone – and never will), and most people know not to call me. Even the office staff knows (if it’s not an emergency) to send a runner, instead of

Read more »

Random Featured Post

Quizzes for Dummies?

A few years ago, while we were reading Outsiders aloud, I was about to give them my usual “reading check” type quiz to make sure they were following along, thinking about what we’d talked about, connecting the literary terms to the examples in the book, etc. I can’t quite remember what my inspiration was (probably just to throw them for a loop like I like to do), but I decided to let them “cheat.” My quizzes on the books and stories we read are always open book, but this time I told them they could take the quiz, not only open book, but “open mouth.” I told them they could talk about the questions and answers as much as they want in any way they want, and decide however they want to, which of the answers to choose. “You can share what you know…or not. You can decide whether to heed the wisdom of the group…or not. You just can’t lie. You can’t knowingly tell everyone the wrong answer on purpose.” One class that day came up with the name Quiz for Dummies. The rest of the periods thought that was a little “mean,” so we’ve stuck with Open Mouth. [...]

more -->


Mr. Coward has been teaching on the beautiful central coast of California since 1989.

Archives

February 2009
M T W T F S S
« Jan   Mar »
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
232425262728  

Recent Comments

  • mrC commented on It’s Go Time!@Sarah-Most excellent! Keep up the good work, and don't let any of them talk you out of it. Glad to hear your kids recognize the value too. Fight the good fight!
  • Mrs. M~ commented on Illin’Feel better soon! There is nothing worse than being at school and trying to be "on" when you feel like death.
  • Sarah commented on It’s Go Time!I just came across your blog...I am a second year teacher and I am currently reading The Outsiders aloud to my seventh graders. I read it to them last year, too. I catch a lot of criticism for reading it to them...but they LOVE to have me read to them. I actually had a group
  • joan commented on Illin’I'm on day two of out-with-the-crud. I needed the rest. Hope you're in tip top shape by Monday!
  • mrC commented on “The Sub Used One of Your Sticks!”That one oughta be strung up like they used to do to horse thieves.
  • Heather commented on “The Sub Used One of Your Sticks!”The last sub I had left no note at all and broke the arm of my spinny chair by leaning back in it so far that he fell in the floor. The kids all said he was the best sub ever. I politely asked the school secretary to never have him sub in
  • mrC commented on The Future of Space Travel@Heather: Gawd I hate that. I think I even posted about it awhile back. @Kelli: This reminds me of high school. I went to a Jesuit high school (all boys) and for our Friday football rallies, we would import cheerleaders from other schools to be a part of the rally. And the girls would always begin
  • Heather commented on The Future of Space TravelMy eighth graders just have the habit of prefacing every question with, "I have a question." And announcing "I'm done" when they complete an assignment.
  • Kelli commented on The Future of Space TravelIs it bad that I sometimes start my stories with "Okay, so...."...? I guess the kids have rubbed off on me. Sigh.
  • Kelli commented on Blogging the Scoring Session (Part I)Ugh! Been there. I have been to those "Scoring and Rubric" type meetings in two different states now... Not fun, and not entirely informative, either.
  • Meg commented on No Groove Yet (Also: The Giver and No Homework Returns)There was a district I student taught in that hand the no fail policy. I child could not be held back a grade, even if they did absolutely nothing the whole year, until they were in high school. It took most of the middle schoolers about 3 seconds to realize they didn't have
  • Kelli commented on No Groove Yet (Also: The Giver and No Homework Returns)You know, that whole "no-zero" policy goes hand-in-hand with the "no-failure" or "no-retention" policy, and my school district is a definite contributor to this madness. I can understand the desire to stop giving zeros and MAKE the kids do the work (giving countless opportunities until successful), but I have been in a situation where
  • commented on Obligatory Santa VideoWe have an unofficial "no zero" policy. It takes a little extra effort on the teacher's part to get all of the students to complete their assignments but we have made it work. The thing that was most helpful was instituting a "homework detention" that is separate from discipline detention. If a

Links

Privacy Policy