Category: Guest artist
Maybe Someone Will Listen to the Rocket Scientist (Nah.)
One of my standard lines when the kids are being particularly thick-headed about something that we’ve already covered about fitty times is, “It ain’t rocket science people.” Turns out it is. At least for me. Check this headline: Teaching Isn’t Rocket Science. It’s Harder. And the best part is that it’s written by an actual […]
Continue Reading...Slow Don’t Necessarily Mean Stupid. (Also: Jhonny Lives!)
(Re: The title. As I tell the kids when I speak ungrammatically or in my peculiar classroom pidgin, it’s sort of like how police officers get to run red lights and speed and stuff. I get to make up words and talk however I want because I’m the grammar cop around here. Some of them […]
Continue Reading...Guest Artist: Marion Brady is Back With Talking Points
Because of the new Common Core Standards, the whole state testing “thing” (at least here in California). is going to change in 2014. Math teachers are flipping because it looks like it’s going to be all about the word problem. (Me: Yay! Finally!) We LA teachers know that no matter what, we’re looking at something […]
Continue Reading...Stop the Madness
Day Three… And I already wasted a whole weekend without posting. D’oh. Marion Brady to the rescue. I know listservs are so 1998, but as I have said here several times before, you should still be subscribed to at least one: MiddleL. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the concept of a listserv […]
Continue Reading...Tip o’ the Day
Our tip of the day this time is from someone we haven’t heard from in a long while. In fact it’s been almost three years since this guest artist made his first and only appearance here. Since then he’s been spending a few years down under. And I don’t mean Australia. I mean 6th grade. […]
Continue Reading...His Father’s Son. (Also: Collaboration.)
This past weekend was my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary party. (I was the firstborn son, so you can do the math as far as age is concerned.) I actually drove to Sacramento for the weekend. It all went smoothly. I’ll spare you the recap, except… Before the party on Saturday night, there was a renewal of vows […]
Continue Reading...Only 35% New Shtuff (But it’s Gold.)
…I’ve been a little laggy about posting (again) because I’ve been revamping my school’s website. Check it out: http://lams.slcusd.org. …While I was checking out the sites for other schools in the district, I happened across a feature that Charlie Perryess, one of the English teachers at our sister middle school (about 1/2 of our 730-something […]
Continue Reading...Guest Speaker: False Assumptions
Previously I have posted about the Middle-L e-mail listserv. I am again recommending it, especially for newer teachers, and those interested in education policy and the “big picture.” As I said before, sometimes you’ll go days without seeing anything new, but all you have to do is introduce yourself, and ask questions, and you’ll get […]
Continue Reading...Hey Kid! (Guest Speaker)
OK. We’re down to 9 days. We start in the middle of the week because our district is moving to – after two union-wide votes – a two-week spring break. I voted against it for just this starting-too-early-in-August-shtuff (among other reasons), but truth be told, I’m sort of itching to get back to work. It […]
Continue Reading...Rookie Year – 1991 (Part II)
Our guest artist continues with his glimpse back at mrC’s first real job – teaching independent study stylie – while mrC (his present self) studies for Saturday’s CTEL test. 1991 – Rich (continued) “Do you have your history homework for me… today?” “I did it. ” It sounds like deed it. “But do you have […]
Continue Reading...Guest Artist. From 1991.
I got my credential in 1990. My last cooperating teacher of my student teaching days would have chastised me for using the word got, but there you go. Then I spent a year subbing (sorry, we call it guest teaching now), and I enjoyed that. It was also my in for my current job; someone […]
Continue Reading...Super Teacher! (Not me.)
This one is about teacher behavior rather than student behavior. A colleague of mine this year decided to go for a change, and moved (voluntarily) from teaching 7th and 8th grade math at our site to teaching… SIXTH GRADE! ZOMG! Recess! The continual lining up! Covering all subjects! Feeling the love! Only 22 kids! But […]
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