Teaching – Teaching The Outsiders (and more)

Seventh Grade Behavior, Teaching

500th Post! And a Couple of Firsts.

mrC

Waitaminnit! I just went and looked, and the first posts on this here blog were all the way back in 2008. Nine years?! 500 posts?! Ok, some are reruns (mebbe 10-15%), but still… 270,000+ words! But enough looking backward… Although today’s post does have a bunch of links to some old classics from over the […]

Teaching, thank you

Best Thank You Note Ever!

mrC

There are a couple of younger teachers on our staff who occasionally take a couple minutes out of a day and make the kids each write a thank you note to a teacher. One in particular does it fairly regularly, and he obviously has a stash of free blank generic cards and envelopes that he […]

Seventh Grade Behavior, Teaching

I Get Paid the Same…

mrC

Today I was giving every kid a drive-by, checking vocabulary homework. I am all about the vocabulary, baby. As (I think) Ray Bradbury said, “You can’t think the thoughts if you don’t know the words.” The big-haired consultant lady we were subjected to for over a year even finally admitted, after months of jabbering about other […]

retirement, Teaching

The Other Mr. Coward

mrC

I have always said that I will never retire. I figure that I need a job at least half the year (185/365 ain’t bad, I have to say) to keep me from getting too lazy and to keep me out of trouble. One usually leads to the other, at least in my experience. Besides, it’s still […]

Advice, Teacher Evaluation, Teaching

Go Visiting!

mrC

I had my annual “Goals Meeting” with my principal the other day. In our district, you get the full “Evaluation” every other year, and in between you have to have an educational goal for the year with a meeting at each end of the year more or less. I’m on the off year, and my […]

Management, Teaching

There’s Only Room for One of Us in This Town

mrC

While I am currently on my sixth principal, I am only working on my fourth English department head. The current one is the best since the first one, way back in the day, but it’s only her second year here, so she’s still learning what the junior high animal is all about. If you’re wondering […]

Don Rickles, Teaching

Five Shows a Day…

mrC

I am headed to Vegas this weekend to see Don Rickles before he offs. He’s 89. He has always been one of my idols along with Steve Martin and Richard Pryor. Steve doesn’t do stand-up any more and Pryor is dead, so… In the documentary about Rickles, interspersed with screamingly funny clips of his insults, are […]

Teacher Evaluation, Teaching

As If

mrC

Many of you have probably seen it already, but this wouldn’t be a teacher blog if I didn’t post a link to this video. Key and Peele do a great imitation of SportsCenter but tweak it so it’s about teachers getting boatloads of money and being idolized and followed by the masses. “I’m pleased to announce […]

Guest artist, Teaching

Maybe Someone Will Listen to the Rocket Scientist (Nah.)

mrC

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 […]

Professional Development, Stories of Seventh Grade, substituting, Teaching

Eight Things

mrC

I am lagging in so many areas lately, so don’t take it personally that this blog is one of them. Here’s the latest… 1. I had been thinking that this year’s crew was too nice and gentle and friendly to offer much comedy relief/material, but I was wrong. They are still seventh graders after all. […]

student teachers, Teacher Evaluation, Teaching

Near As I Can Figure, TFA Sucks

mrC

Today, some geniuses in one class were doing the old “what if I” game with me, trying to dream up scenarios where they might be able to circumvent the rules/regulations in my class. “What if I had my friend… What if my mom…” and etc. God forbid they were surprised to find that I not […]

Teaching

The Stick is Back, and So Am I!

mrC

I realized something today. Man already has the ability to travel forward in time. All you have to do is make sure that whatever period of time you want to skip is scheduled as vacation. Boom. Just like that you’re at the end of it. Done and done, as they so annoyingly say. The problem is […]

Teacher Evaluation, Teaching, testing

Even “Disneyland” is in Danger (Part 1)

mrC

First off, I am liking the idea of the “crosstalk” in the comments. This back and forth without me is looking pretty groovy. (Also I am interested in the role that weather plays in the school year in places where they actually have weather.) It got me thinking I could install some discussion board software and […]

retirement, Teaching

Retirement is for Wimps

mrC

Our spring break was way early this year. I am already back to getting up at five and grousing about the latest IST blunder (a total update from Windows XP to Win7 while we are on break, and no testing to see if everything still works?) and you guys are all probably on vacation. That’s OK […]

Teaching, Tips, Tom Sawyer

BoT #2

mrC

We started reading Tom Sawyer today. This time, I’m going to try to read A LOT more of it in class. They need to hear the cadence and the twang, and the fun Mark Twain has with language. And I get to “talk southern.” (Aside: My dad grew up in Illinois, and when he got mad at […]