Posts Tagged ‘ CPS ’

Shameless Hucksterism (CPS.mrcoward.com)

May 15, 2009
By

I was just reading an article speculating that the era of everything being free on the ‘net might be ending. Record companies can’t make a living because everyone is downloading for free. Television networks are trying to figure out how to make money from free tv on the ‘net. Why have cable for tv when you can get tv from your net connection? Newspapers are folding because everyone (including them) posts their content for free.  Why subscribe to the NY Times when you can read it for free on the ‘net? Travel agents? Booking trips is freebie online. Etc. Etc. But. Nobody’s making money, and sooner rather than later says this article, things will have to change. YouTube loses millions of dollars a month. Facebook? Ditto. MySpace. Please. And don’t even start about Twitter. They all lose millions of dollars monthly. Ads don’t even come close to paying for the costs of these sites. The only sites that make money are the ones that charge for something. Not necessarily everything. They give content away, but charge for the premium stuff. Like the Wall Street Journal or CraigsList. Yeah, that’s me, like the Wall Street Journal. Anyway, all the lessons and

Read more »

“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 »

They killed the King!

January 7, 2009
By
They killed the King!

One of the reasons my previous attempt at blogging failed was that I was in the midst of another battle with our district IST department, and I spent too much time complaining about how they were interfering with my class, and how they…anyway, I’ll just make myself crabby again thinking about it. So I vowed I wasn’t going to talk about that sort of shtuff any more. It’s a lot more fun this way. But this week they crossed the line. They killed the Raffle King. Yes, the King is dead (at least at school…at least for now). First, a little background on how I discovered the crime. Monday, we were going to consult him about who was most worthy of the Magic Clicker #20. Magic Clicker #20 came into being the first year I had the clickers. I had one clicker (#20) stop working, and the company sent me a replacement one. It was different. They sent me one of the newer models. More sleek. Rounded corners. White instead of blue. Obviously much cooler. So now there’s one clicker everyone wants. They all want to break theirs so they can get a replacement. (These days, if you buy a

Read more »

Cartoon Fun II.

December 26, 2008
By
Cartoon Fun II.

A “typical” period in Mr. Coward’s class in “pictures” Part II. After they have completed the warm up, we go over it. I use my wireless slate to circle the correct answers on the screen and write hints. I can also flip the pen over, and use the built-in laser pointer to emphasize (or annoy). Next we will often be working on grammar/mechanics, going over pink homework sheets or proofreading something (usually student work) live on the overhead or grooving on some Schoolhouse Rock (-ism #10). Their faves are “Unpack Your Adjectives” and “Mr. Morton.” (I had one class one year where several members would cry during that one; they felt sooo sad for Mr. Morton, even after it all ends well.) If it’s Wednesday, there will be vocabulary work. That means going over the homework, giving examples and usages, answering questions, and sometimes acting out the words. (OMG, they can’t cope when I undulate.) Then there’s the vocabulary pretest. A perfect score gets them out of that part of the test on Friday. It’s called being exempt (-ism #13), and in my class, it’s what they all crave. I use the Raffle King to decide whether they can use

Read more »

Cartoon Fun! (Also: The Popple)

December 26, 2008
By
Cartoon Fun! (Also: The Popple)

This cartooning for a living is hard work. I only have four (well really only three) panels done, and I’m already exhausted. Maybe it’s just Christmas. Anyway, here is Part One (minutes 1-6) of a typical day in Mr. Coward’s class, doodle stylie: As the kids come in, they know to take out their notebooks and get ready for the inevitable warm up. Most days, the warm up is a CPS lesson with our vocabulary, spelling, or academic words. There are usually 6 sentences they have to copy and fill in the  proper word for. I rerun these on Friday’s test. When we go over the warm up, I can write on it with my wireless slate (also good for writing instructions live). While they are doing the warm up (we’ll go over it in six minutes: cue the Timer), I circulate up and down the aisles (tripping over backpacks and gangly middle schoolers “low-riding” in their seats) checking whatever homework is due. This is a check. We’ll actually go over it and correct it later in the period. (U.M.O.P.P.C.A.S.S.= Unholy Mess of Papers, Pens, Cables, and Some Shtuff.) (aside) The Popple. Notice the slot in his belly for collecting

Read more »

Random Featured Post

“There’s already something on the back of mine.” (Also: Racial Harmony.)

It was our first day back in the classroom after 8 days in the library. We were all glad to be back. “Oh, my clicker…how I’ve missed you.” One of them actually said that. OMG. What a day. Full of action, and laugh after laugh. First there was the video. YouTube is blocked in our district. Our head of IST keeps bleating about CIPA and how YouTube doesn’t filter, and…anyway, we can’t use YouTube. But finally, they created a workaround for us. We have to do things from home rather than from school, but it works OK. We find the YouTube video we want to use, and copy the URL. Then we go to the district’s “safe video portal” and paste it in. Then we can approve our own video, and use the safe portal to show it at school. It’s a bit clunky, but it works fine. Yesterday I added a video. I hadn’t even showed it yet, when I got an e-mail from my principal. I have only added a couple of videos before, but both of them were of the nutty variety, rather than the “educational” sort.  One of them is near the top of the most [...]

more -->


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

Archives

May 2012
M T W T F S S
« Apr    
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031  

Recent Comments

Links

Privacy Policy

Tags

cartoons Charlotte Doyle Class Activities clickers CPS CTEL Flashback grammar high school idiosyncrasies irony Mailbag Me mechanics middle school teaching Monsters on Maple Street Moodle online learning oral reading Outsiders CHapter 5 Outsiders Chapter 7 RaffleKing Ray Bradbury Reading Richard Cory Seventh Grade Behavior Stories of Seventh Grade substituting Teaching Teaching Tips teaching with technology teaching with technology teaching writing Technology techology testing The Earth Men The Giver The Midwife's Apprentice The Outsiders Tips Tips for teachers Tom Sawyer Wiki Writing