Teaching
Experience, successes and fails from the classroom
Category: teacher
When I ask who is ready for summer
Teaching IRL
Posted in allison reynolds, ally sheady, andrew clark, anthony michael hall, assistant principal, breakfast club, brian johnson, claire standish, class, education, emilio estevez, gif, hands raise, john bender, judd nelson, molly ringwald, paul gleason, raise hands, ready for summer, richard vernon, school, summer, summer time, teacher, teachers, teaching, the breakfast club
Day One Hundred Seventy-Nine
187 Days of Teaching
Posted in day one hundred seventy-nine, edublr, education, educhums, high school, i am a wizard, interdisciplinary fabulousness, Mrs. T, social studies, teachblr, teacher, teaching, the last lesson, the multi-genre project
Today was the last day of regular classes for our underclassmen, which means it was the day multi-genre projects were due. This is my half to grade:
Each project has four different pieces of work (expressive, informational, opinion, graphic) and full MLA citations. Each piece was drafted and revised at least once, sometimes two or three times. Most students cite a half dozen sources or more; some have over twenty sources.
Don’t ever let anyone tell you June is a throwaway month and you can’t keep students motivated to learn.
Mrs. T and I know better.
And we are wizards.
We both gave students time to work and/or review for finals before delivering our last lessons today, and that was that. We’re proud of how proud our students were to hand those projects in! Like, we had three boys stay a couple minutes late to get their work printed, and they were grinning and high-fiving as they left. Stuff like that makes my day.
Bonus Day
187 Days of Teaching
Posted in bonus day, edublr, education, educhums, graduation day, high school, project grad, so much fun, so much joy, teachblr, teacher, teaching
The Class of 2018 graduated yesterday. It was a gorgeous, breezy, sunny day. The student speakers gave lovely speeches (the last one, made by one of my APUSGOV girls, called on everyone to work to change immoral policies- ie separating families at the border- and got a standing ovation).
A few hours after the ceremony ended, Project Grad began! It was SUCH a fun trip: bowling, laser tag, and bumper cars at Dover Bowl; trampoline fun at Blitz Air; a party cruise in Boston Harbor; an early morning at Storyland. On the bus rides in between, I played DJ and raffled off Amazon gift cards (anywhere from $20 to $100). I have to give props to the parents who did the fundraising and planning for all of that!
It is bittersweet to say goodbye to this big-hearted class, but as I said before, the wide world is going to be so lucky to get to know them next!
When I tell students not to worry too much abo…
Teaching IRL
Posted in class, don't worry about it, don't worry about the end result, education, gif, grades, it is about the journey, it's about how you get there, it's about the journey, john cena, journey, marks, school, students, teacher, teachers, teaching
When the principal tries to come into my class…
Teaching IRL
Posted in bye, bye this is my fucking room get the fuck out, class, classroom, education, get out, get out of here, get the fuck out, gif, I don't think so, principal, reality tv, school, teacher, teachers, teaching, this is my fucking room
When there are only a few more class days left…
Teaching IRL
Posted in class, disney, disney pixar, education, fire, fire extinguisher, gif, incredibles, incredibles 2, jack jack, jack jack attack, june, kari the babysitter, last few days of class, mr incredible, pixar, put out the flames, school, students, teacher, teachers, teaching, the incredibles, wild
When a student explains why they don’t want to…
Teaching IRL
Posted in class, clayne crawford, do your work, don't want to work, education, gif, it's thursday, just a case of the mondays, kristen gutoskie, lethal weapon, martin riggs, molly hendricks, school, students, teacher, teachers, teaching
Day One Hundred Seventy-Six
187 Days of Teaching
Posted in day one hundred seventy-six, edublr, education, educhums, high school, I get by with a little help from my friends, interdisciplinary fabulousness, Mrs. T, teachblr, teacher, teaching, the multi-genre project
Multi-genre projects are due on Monday, so most students spent World/English today making revisions and putting everything together. We have a few who are behind, or need to make significant changes to their work, so Mrs. T and I have been helping them as much as possible. We’ve both done parent contacts, too (another thing we can split in half), so hopefully that’ll produce some results.
I try not to get frustrated about having to do that (which is hard because, at this point, it feels like the year just didn’t stick for some students). Having Mrs. T to talk to is so helpful since we’re in this together. And there is SO MUCH incredible work, and it represents tons of growth, and that’s well worth celebrating.
I spent my prep time finding excuses to go to the air conditioned parts of the building- like the main office…I checked my mailbox a lot- because it was hot. Thankfully, tomorrow it will be cooler!
When a student keeps calling me over and I say…
Teaching IRL
Posted in 10 seconds is an eternity harry, 10 seconds is an eternity harry it's a third of the way to mars, andy samberg, calling, class, conner 4 real, education, gif, hold your horses, impatient, it's a third of the way to mars, just wait, popstar, popstar never stop never stopping, school, student, style boyz, teacher, teachers, teaching, wait 10 seconds
Day One Hundred Seventy-Five
187 Days of Teaching
Posted in coaching, day one hundred seventy-five, edublr, education, educhums, faculty meeting, high school, interdisciplinary fabulousness, Mr. I, mr. white is the best teacher I ever had, Mrs. T, so much joy, social studies, sports awards, teachblr, teacher, teaching, the multi-genre project, tom white, track
Today was long, but it was a good day.
The merry band of activists that meets in my classroom made cake and started designing a website to spread their message. So that’s awesome. One of the kids’ moms does site design for a living, so she came in to help, except I totally forgot no one can log onto our wifi networks without our tech folks okaying it. D’oh. But they managed to get some work done anyhow.
Then, in World/English, Mrs. T and I conducted more multi-genre project writing conferences- another nine each- and we’re really feeling good about our students’ work. I think everything I read was quality work; even if pieces needed to be improved, it wasn’t hard to explain to students how to go about it. And I did read two projects that were just straight-up AWESOME. One was about mass shootings and the other was about mental illness, and both packed in some powerful writing.
It’s all very serious, and so was what I did with my prep time. Tom White was back in Mr. I’s Genocide Studies class, so I went down to see him lecture. Those of you following along will remember that he was one of my high school teachers, so it’s always amazing to be his student again- even as an interloper!
We had to say a quick goodbye because I had a faculty meeting. That was, well, a faculty meeting in June. There were cookies, though, so that’s something.
Afterwards, I had about an hour to go home and chill before going back to the school for Spring Sports Awards. And that was amazing, as it always is. It’s recognizing a season of tremendous work, goodbyes and hugs from the seniors, flowers and other coaches’ gifts… We had five amazing captains this year, but one of them stood out because this sport changed him SO MUCH for the better. And I got to tell him how proud I was of him.
That’s what it’s all about.
