Oh, if I could be more organized!

Today at school we had PSAT for just the sophomores and the juniors.  I had a small group of sophomores to guide through the five different tests of the PSAT.  This morning was also a typical Wednesday professional development day.  We start an hour later on Wednesdays for faculty meeting and professional development.

Monday was a full day of professional development too.  We got together into small groups and went to the website 21 Things for the 21st Century Educator.  This is a great web site for teachers...it's basically a professional development tool for teachers.  It's out of the state of Michigan and aligned to the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers.  You can look at various lessons about different kinds of technology tools that can engage you and your students into 21st century learning.

Anyway, my colleagues and I were put into groups to explore some of the lessons and then present what we had found to the rest of the teachers.  So our task for this morning's PD time was to create a lesson plan OR modify a current lesson plan incorporating the tools presented on Monday.   I had already been looking into wikis as a collaborative learning project for my classes.   So my colleague and I were working on our project this morning...but not much progress.

Certainly I meant to work on it more during testing.  But I realized I had some grading to get taken care of and updating to my online gradebook.  THEN I noticed some kids needed to have progress reports sent home...so I did that.  THEN I remembered that I have Spell Bowl practice again on Thursday.  It's the final practice before the competition on October 17, and I had to get the powerpoint ready for practice (it's still not ready).  So all that spare time I thought I had that I was going to use to catch up on the serious grading...the essay questions for the test to grade and some AP work didn't get taken care of today, like I planned to do.

Here's the thing.  The fresh/soph class is watching The Odyssey.  So that's 4 periods of movie time.  I am going to have to force myself to grade, grade, grade tomorrow!  I WILL get it done!

When you need...

I was tooling around other blogs (The Writer Today) this early morning, and I discovered this lovely post:

EMERGENCY NUMBERS


1. When In Sorrow.....Call John 14

2. When You Have Sinned.....Call Psalm 51

3. When You Worry.....Call Matthew 6:19-34

4. When You Are In Danger.....Call Psalm 91

5. When Your Faith Needs Stirring.....Call Hebrews 11

6. When You Feel Down & Out.....Call Romans 8:31

7. When You Want Peace & Rest.....Call Matthew 11:25-30

8. When The World Seems Bigger Then God.....Call Psalm 90

9. If Your Pocketbook Is Empty.....Call Psalm 37

10. When You Are Lonely & Fearful....Call Psalm 23

11. When You Grow Bitter & Critical.....Call 1Corinthians 13

12. For How To Get Along With Fellow Man.....Call Romans 12

13. If You Are Depressed.....Call Psalm 27

14. If People Seem Unkind.....Call John 15

Let the school year begin...

I don't know about you, but January is never the beginning of the year for me.  It's always been in August, because that's when a new school year starts.  When you're a student, you begin a new grade and you get a chance to start over again, with new goals and possibilities.  This is especially when you move from one school to another.  Freshmen in high school have a chance to redefine the identity they created for themselves as middle schoolers, just as college freshmen can do the same.  For them, moving out of their childhood home makes this transition even more dramatic.

As a teacher, I always start my new year with goals.  One of them is ALWAYS the same:  I WILL be more organized!  I plan, I clean out my classroom in the summer, reorganize my storage areas, discard things I haven't used, and begin the year with a fresh outlook.  I create and practice new ways of keeping organized.  By October or November I discover which of these new methods work and which don't.  By about March, I'm lucky to see out from underneath all the piles on my desk, and my cabinets have become a dumping ground for what I need to get off of my desk NOW.  When May comes, I look at my cabinets and start it all over again.

Generally I also have goals related to new responsibilities and procedures at my school.  This year we are pushing a huge technology initiative which not only involves new computers for teachers but also new requirements as to using technology.  It is a bit overwhelming for all of us in my building, even those of us who are comfortable experimenting with and using technology in the classroom.  We have an entirely new gradebook and attendance system that we need to learn about and use.  Parental communication has also become part of our new gradebook and attendance system, specifically that we are to have a daily online log of our classroom lesson plans and homework.  Parents have the ability not only to access their child's grades but they also can look for homework and lessons.  For me it is not the planning that is "new", but getting used to using the new system.   My goal for this is to be as efficient as possible with the new system, to be patient with myself and my colleagues about it, and to try and be an encouragement and resource to everyone who is feeling overwhelmed.

There are other "resolutions" I develop for each new school year.  Most of them are related to the failures or successes I had the previous year.  All of them are usually quite personal, and relate to how I interacted with  my students and their families.  Some of them have to do with my relationships with my colleagues.

So there, January...August is the real "new year".  It just doesn't start with a party and a countdown.  Just a classroom and school full of new faces.

What Teachers Want to Know

One of the interesting juxtapositions of being a teacher is that people (parents, students, the community) either expect us to know everything or nothing.  Many "outsiders" still believe the myths of summers off, an 8-3 time schedule, and "those who can't, teach.  Most teachers are professionals who take their work home, spend their own time and money on training for their improvement, and work almost as much during the summer as they do in the school year.

Parents, who have lived their entire lives with their children, often expect teachers to know everything they know about their students.  I had a student this year who,  throughout the school year, would forget to hand in work.  However I'd remind her or make her stay after to finish it, and she'd get it in.  I never felt concern because the work was taken care of.  It is my policy to involve the parents if the child doesn't follow through beyond my consequences.

Then, at the end of the school year, as I was finalizing semester grades, I noticed she hadn't handed in an assignment to my student teacher.  My student teacher had told me who hadn't submitted this assignment, but I mistakenly spoke to the wrong student (she only mentioned first names, not last names).  To make a long story short, when I called the right student's parent about the assignment, it was a disaster.  Her mother told me the reason she sent her child to our school was because of her lackadaisical attitude toward homework.  She wanted more communication and monitoring of her child's work.  Unfortunately this was the first I had heard of this desire; had I known she wanted more direct communication about her child's work, I'd have given it.  The end-of-school debacle could have been avoided.  

I've also had students with medical concerns, psychological concerns, and family issues as well.  For some reason, at our school, parents don't always tell the nurse or guidance office about these issues.   They may want to avoid labeling their child, which I can understand.  But most teachers at our school will be discreet and not say, "Hey, Johnny, I know you are bipolar so if you feel a meltdown coming on, please just leave the room and do what you need to do."  I want to be able to avoid saying the wrong thing to students inadvertently.

So, parents.   If something comes up that's going to affect your child at school, let his or her teachers know.  It really helps us to be sensitive to those entering our classroom!

Real Teachers

NOTE:  Someone sent this to me.  This is not my work.

Real teachers grade papers in the car, during commercials, in faculty meetings, in the bathroom, and (at the end of the six weeks) have been seen grading in church.
Real teachers cheer when they hear April 1 does not fall on a school day.
Real teachers clutch a pencil while thinking and make notes in the margins of books.
Real teachers can't walk past a crowd of kids without straightening up the line.
Real teachers never sit down without first checking the seat of the chair.
Real teachers have disjointed necks from writing on boards without turning their backs on the class.
Real teachers are written up in medical journals for the size and elasticity of kidneys and bladders.
Real teachers have been timed gulping down a full lunch in 2 minutes, 18 seconds. Master teachers can eat faster than that.
Real teachers can predict exactly which parents will show up at Open House.
Read teachers volunteer for hall duty on days faculty meetings are scheduled.
Real teachers never teach the conjugations of lie and lay to eighth graders.
Real teachers know it is better to seek forgiveness than ask permission.
Real teachers know the best end of semester lesson plans can come from Blockbuster.
Real teachers never take grades after Wednesday of the last week of the six weeks.
Real teachers never assign research papers on the last six weeks or essays on final exams.
Real teachers know the shortest distance and the length of travel time from their classroom to the office.
Read teachers can "sense" gum.
Real teachers know the difference among what must be graded, what ought to be graded, and what probably should never again see the light of day.
Real teachers are solely responsible for the destruction of the rain forest.
Real teachers have their best conferences in the parking lot.
Real teachers have never heard an original excuse.
Real teachers buy Excedrin and Advil at Sam's.
Real teachers will eat anything that is put in the workroom/teacher's lounge.
Real teachers have the assistant principals' and counselors' home phone numbers.
Real teachers know secretaries and custodians run the school.
Real teachers know the rules don't really apply to them.
Real teachers hear the heartbeats of crisis; always have time to listen; know they teach students, not subjects; and they are absolutely non-expendable.

Technology Overload!

Recently we have begun an initiative at my school to improve our use of technology in the classroom.  We are moving toward what's called "one-to-one" technology.  Our goal is to have a computing device, such as a Macbook or an iPad, in each student's hand in order to enhance student learning.  This is a huge undertaking, and one that needs a lot of time and preparation in order for it to be done correctly.

The first step our school has taken is to make the switch from PC to Mac.  This spring, each of us received a MacBook Pro, which replaces our desktop computers in the classroom.  This is an exciting and intimidating step for us.  On our staff, we have a variety of comfort and skill levels with computers to deal with.  Additionally, we have different kinds of "learners"...some are comfortable with exploring and experimenting, and others need more direct training in how to use these new tools.  Our main goal with providing the teachers with machines first is to give teachers a better level of comfort with the new equipment before putting the technology into the hands of the students.

This leads to what I call technology overload.  Learning about new technology, no matter what your comfort level, is overwhelming.  Either you are overwhelmed because you are intimidated by it, or you are overwhelmed because there is SO MUCH YOU CAN DO!!!  (This is where I am...I don't know where to begin because I see that there's so much potential.)

The key is to start small.  Pick something reasonable to do and then try it.  Then challenge yourself by taking a step out of your comfort zone.  Continue until the new technology is a seamless part of your teaching environment.

Check out this article about one-to-one computing from Education World:
One-To-One Computing