More New Shtuff

August 25, 2008

By mrC

Tomorrow’s a “teacher work day.” The kids start Tuesday. I have actually been trying to get into the groove a little earlier this year…

I revamped my class expectations sheet(.pdf) this year. I had sort of gotten into a rut each year of basically changing the year (or maybe a cosmetic change or two) and that’s about it. I decided there was too much fluff. I added a more complete list of novels, I rewrote the intro section and highlighted some of the technology we use, I included the late work policy (finally! duh!), and I added the KBAR FAQ.

Speaking of FAQ’s. I added some to my web page this year. I finally got tired of answering the same questions over and over (hmmm you’d think I would learn faster than my seventh graders), especially the ones about late work and extra credit. (The pickle recipe is the best ever!)

Anyway, I will emphasize these pages at Back to School Night, and with any luck, answer fewer questions this year.

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You Gotta Have a Shtick (or a stick).

One of the things I like to say about teaching junior high is down at the bottom of this page in the footer. You’re too lazy to scroll, aren’t you? Fine. “Five shows a day, 180 days a year.” And there aren’t many crowds tougher than 7th graders. “This is boring.” The worst of all sins. Most of us who teach junior high have a shtick. A role we play, some isms we like to use again and again. Idiosyncrasies we play up for entertainment/attention value (oh the sharing I get when we talk about that word idiosyncrasy during “Monsters are Due on Maple Street“). The key is to make the shtick such a natural part of the classroom routine, that it doesn’t distract too much. Well, sometimes we need the distraction. There’s the Raffle King. There’s the Timer. There are the clickers. The Cage. Mental Floss. Nutty videos. MYOB. All of these are stalwart features of my classroom shtick. And as of a few years ago, there’s also the Quiet Stick. (four or five years ago – me visiting another teacher’s classroom before school) “Leenie! What the shiggy are you doing? Where’d you get this, and WHY ARE YOU [...]

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