Flashback – Teaching The Outsiders (and more)

First Job, Guest artist, Independent Study, Me, Teaching

Guest Artist. From 1991.

mrC

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 […]

cartoons, Me

A True Blast from the Past (Vacation Filler)

mrC

Every time I smell a Sharpie, I flash back to the summer between seventh and eighth grade. I spent many an hour in my closet that summer with the smell of felt pens and burning hair. No, it’s not what you think. (What WERE you thinking, anyway?) That was the summer I dug out my […]

RaffleKing, Rerun, Seventh Grade Behavior, Stories of Seventh Grade

What’s a Rerun of a Flashback Called?

mrC

I was trying to wait until I reached 100 posts before I did this. You know, like in television, your series used to have to reached 100 episodes before you could go into syndication ands reruns. But I figure with my bad paw, I have a bit of an excuse. (It’s getting much better, but […]

student teachers, Teaching

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

mrC

“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, […]

Presenting the Book, stories, Teaching

Exemplary

mrC

I’ll continue the -isms tomorrow. I just have to interrupt our regularly scheduled program to tell about a classic I rediscovered today. I started at my present school in 1993. The last job I had before that was teaching 9th and 10th graders at a big high school about 30 miles away. This school and […]

Seventh Grade Behavior, St. Mel's, Stories of Seventh Grade

Old School (St. Mel’s)

mrC

Is there a today’s equivalent of the old Mutt and Jeff duo? SpongeBob and Patrick? What do you call a dynamic duo of 7th grade boys? These are the kind that drive you batty, but there’s just something about them that makes it hard to get mad at them. Like Ponyboy describes Two-Bit. But they […]

Seventh Grade Behavior

How the Junior High Mind Works (flashback)

mrC

I have always used analogies in my class. They are a staple of my warm ups and vocabulary activities, and supposedly, they help you get smarter. Hmmm. Seventh graders must have immunity. This was back in the 90’s, and it was early in the year. We’re still working on the idea of analogies, and still […]

Random Featured Post, Stories of Seventh Grade

Best Faux Pas Ever. (Glad it wasn’t me.)

mrC

(Friday Flashback – Last Year) “Mrs. G” has been teaching in our district for over 40 years. She’s been at our school since it opened in 1980. She’s taught English, art, social studies, music, and much more. She is literally an immovable object, and doesn’t need to rise from her chair to strike fear (well, […]

Seventh Grade Behavior, Stories of Seventh Grade

The Silent Treatment

mrC

Back to school tomorrow. No break until Halloween. (The district got smart this year, and scheduled what used to be called an in-service day. I think now they’re called Staff Development. (Sounds like a SPAM header.) Before we go back to work, I just hafta tell this story (again). It must have been about six […]