Teaching

[Darill Cyllem]

Haven't seen anything like this so far, and searches didn't turn up much of anything, but mods should do their thing if i'm mistaken.

Do you teach?
What do you teach?
What level do you teach?
What do you like about it? What drives you crazy sometimes?
Share some of your teaching strategies... trouble shoot your classroom dilemmas.

Students: what does and does not work for you in the classroom? Describe your best teacher ever, and your worst teacher ever.

Just a few suggestions to get your thoughts on teaching rolling!

[Darill Cyllem]

I'll get started, then.
i teach college-level classes: this semester at both a huge land-grant university and a community college. I teach human evolution and human anatomy. I love teaching, especially lab time, getting to interact with my students as individuals and i always appreciate that "aha!" moment when one of them gets something for the first time and you can just see that little light bulb go off over their head. Fantastic!
This semester I also have the opportunity to train some undergrads in some lab methods - very rewarding.

[Blizzard]

The best teaching is hands on. Drop 15 toadlets on a table surrounded by 15 6 year olds and PARTY!

I teach nature after school and five weeks in the summer. I will have to elaborate later. Great thread, I have lots to share. :)

[Darill Cyllem]

Fabulous, Blizz!
I like teachign the little guys, too - so different than college kids... so much more excitement! It's wonderful.
I also believe in the strong power of the "gross out factor" as a teaching tool - bugs, squishy things, owl pellets, mud, dissections... fantastic.

[Blizzard]

Absolutely! I so enjoy having some honey on crackers with my kiddos while teaching about bees, then telling them honey is made from nectar and bee spit. (Actually vomit, but spit does a sufficient gross out.)

I also play Fear Factor with them where we blind fold them and made them eat things like cat tongues and frog guts and sheep eye balls (which are really canned carrots and corn and black olives). Sometimes vegetables are worse to a kid than eating actual guts, so it's quite hilarious!

I work at a very urban school. Every year I have to break the news to the 5-6 year olds, and even the occational 10 year old, that they eat pigs and cows. That is one thing I don't like telling them. It's almost as shocking as learning there is no Santa (which there really is, of course.)

[Darill Cyllem]

Well... at least now they know, Blizz. Better to know than not, i say.

So... here's a dilemma I have. I teach a lab section at 8am Mondays. And it is DEATH. Not even death warmed over... just death. These are college kids. Any suggestions for what I can do to get them involved? I like to do a lot of question and answer stuff, but there's just no energy. I try to give - but get nothing back. I have some ideas for stuff to try, but would definitely be open to suggestions.

[Jedi Master Harrison]

^ No idea I'm afraid regarding that issue. I have to teach youngsters coming into my job what to do. I find it quite easy to make reasonably difficult concepts quite simple, so they generally relate to me quite well. I am not great at explaining 'higher level' skills however.

I have dated 3 primary school teachers during my time and I cannot believe the amount of time they spend working after hours! Fortunately for them they get a long holiday in the summer!

[Darth Massacrus]

as a coollege student I cannot believe I just mispelled college as 'coollege'. Now that I have that out of the way, my best ever Professor was actually the husband of my high school English teacher, and excellent as a teacher.

[cj790]

I'm a primary school teacher - love the job, hate the paperwork!

I teach 8-11 year olds and am now entering my third year of teaching. I also coach the girl's football team and the school rugby team. The planning and the marking get too much for me - only now am I starting to claw back something of my life!



^^ Sorry but I don't have any ideas for your problem yet - what type of lesson do you have to plan?

[Darill Cyllem]

I'd just be open to general ideas for pepping up a class that's so early in the morning for college students. I might try emphasizing working more closely in the lab groups and getting to know one another. Then maybe they'll look forward to seeing their class mates? Even at 8am?
Maybe not.

I know what you mean about gradinig, CJ.
I have a bit more flexibility with how much of that i need to do, fortunately. At least in my current position.

[cj790]

^ I'd definitely suggest something practical then, IMHO. I taught in college briefly (relief teaching religion to a bunch of childcare students), and from my experiences then I think that short practical activities would work well, especially that early in the moring! Short investigations, open-ended questions, etc.? Anything to get them (and you!) out of the inevitable Monday-morning funk :)

Sounds like you're in quite an enviable position! That is one of the downfall of teaching primary - it's possible for me to end up with 4 sets of books to mark after one day...
Sadly my school are a little anal about things like that. I'm hoping to switch next year, maybe teaching English abroad?

[Javen]

I have taught people to play guitar. although I haven't done it in awhile.

[T-bone]

I taught web design basics to mostly adults at night school for a few years to make some extra cash. I actually found it quite rewarding and I enjoyed it a lot.

I'm also a Cub Scout Leader - I run the Scouts for my town, actually - and there's a lot of teaching there too.

It's very important and should pay a lot more.

[Darill Cyllem]

All teaching should pay a lot more!
(What's the difference between a pizza and a part-time faculty member? A pizza can feed a family of four. Ha.)

CJ - teaching English abroad sounds like fun! I used to help with an ESL (english as 2nd language) class for Latino adults in the states - it was great fun!
Thanks for the suggestions... definitely the kind of thing i'm leaning towards. :)

[cj790]

^ That's cool! I think an ESL is def. something I really want to try out (plus the fact that I just want to travel more before I'm 30).
We've got quite a few foriegn teachers in my school, and that's having a real effect on my ideas for my own career. Now I'm in my 3rd year of teaching I'm trying to claw something of my life back, and if I can combine my work and my interests more it would be ideal - especially seen as I don't want to be in the same school come January...

[Darill Cyllem]

Go for it, CJ! It should be really fun - you'll learn tons. And maybe pick up a new language yourself!
Any ideas about where you'd like to go?

[cj790]

Cheers :)
I'd def. like to pick up a new language too, that's one of the appeals :)

My Aussie friend is trying to get me to go there for a year, which I'm seriousy considering. Then there's also Japan - I've got a bit of an interest in the culture (to put it mildly) so that would be a fantastic opportunity.

I think I'd go pretty much anywhere Western though; all experience is good experience :)

[Kam Solusar]

I don't teach in the normal sense, though I did think about it when going through school. I ended up opting out because I saw how the system was working and didn't want to get caught up in it. But now, in my job, I teach a lot of technical stuff to student employees.

[Sarah-Leia]

I don't teach (of course). I'm not exactly considering it as a career option, but then again, I'm too young. Teaching ESL would be fun indeed.

Actually, I'd like to be a high school English teacher. I could teach people to use our great language properly and maximise their abilities with it. So many people today are losing the gift of articulation and proper grammar.

Yes. I would like very much to teach English.

Pity the pay's um...crap, am I correct?

Maybe tutoring people part-time. :scratchchin:

[Kam Solusar]

That's what I was going to do, too. Teach high school English. Sad fact is that most kids aren't losing the gift, they don't care about it anymore.

[Darill Cyllem]

But i think they could care about it... depends on the teacher. It helps if he/she is enthusiastic and a gifted teacher. It's so easy to get bitter and jaded in teaching, though. Burn out rates are pretty high.

[Darill Cyllem]

An update:
I had pretty good success energizing my 8am lab this morning. Hope to keep it up over the next several weeks. My planned activities did seem to wake them up a bit and get them more involved with the class. :)

[cj790]

^ Good news! I hope it continues!

You're right - motivation is the key, for teachers and pupils :wink:

[Darill Cyllem]

Me, too... I have some ideas for little liveners based on stuff i got from theri 3 minute writing activity this morning.
Next week they get to hear about my research :happydance: as many expressed an interest in the general topic, so i'll use it as an example.

[Jedi Master Harrison]

That's what I was going to do, too. Teach high school English. Sad fact is that most kids aren't losing the gift, they don't care about it anymore.

I think the pace of modern life isn't helping matters. My Mum was an English teacher (she is now semi-retired) and a few years ago would never use much slang or abbreviation etc. Now she thinks nothing of using 'txt language' in emails or texts, simply to be able to move onto doing something else. I also think grammar and punctuation are nowadays seen as being less important than how you actually get your point across. I think this is bad - it is acceptable if you are educated enough to make the choice in an appropriate situation (like an email to a friend), but one thing I personally hate is poor literacy skills being shown on formal documentation.

I think I must be gettin old! (Yes, leaving the 'g' off was done on purpose!)

[Kam Solusar]

I can't stand that mentality. There was recently talk around these parts about actually ALLOWING txt speak to be a viable form of communication as it pertains to education (allowing it in papers, etc). And to what end does that serve? It lets teachers be lazy and it lets the stupid lazy kids who can't apply themselves properly coast through. I wanted to propose a counter initiative that let a person get a correct answer in a math question as long as they were within a reasonable range of the correct answer. It's the same principle, but you'd NEVER see that fly, would you?

[cj790]

I'll never forget when my literacy co-ordinator from the LEA (the county's top English woman, if you will), said to me that she considered spelling and punctuation to be 'minor' or 'less important' features of writing...

[Darill Cyllem]

One of my pet peeves is getting awful e-mail from students. Something like:

"hey
i have this question but i won't tell you what class i'm taking with you or even sign my name to this e-mail"

Some of my male colleagues even get e-mails that begin with the saluation "dude."
I am too young to feel like such an old lady about this!! :mad:

[cj790]

^ Age is no boundary when it comes to poor communication skills :wink:

:innocent:

[Jedi Master Harrison]

^ Taht is sooo write! :wink: *Feels ignorantly young* :)

[Darth Massacrus]

while on the topic of age and teaching, I'd like to relate a story of mine from elementary school:

my schools principal (who was very much a disciplinarian and taskmaster) had apparently long ago been a student at the same school she was now the head of, and was taught by my current teacher, now a kindly old lady with decades of experience and popularity. Well, one day the principal decided to sit in on our class, and at one point in the lesson asked me a question on what I had learned. I made the 'mistake' of forgetting to address her as 'Doctor' (something she made everyone do) and reminded me in front of the entire class to remmeber to address her with the proper title, as forgetting to do so was not respectful of ones elders. This got a rather amusing reaction from my teacher, who reminded the principal of times in her youth when she had 'not properly addressed her elders with respect', including her. She also reminded the principal to be respectful of her elders, and not to be so overly critical with her students, and that I had meant no harm. Basically, the moral of the story was, respect your elders by respecting your youngers.

[Darill Cyllem]

Wise words, DM. Professionalism and courtesy are musts. I have to maintain a bit of distance from my students, especially as i'm not much older than many of them, and am younger than many as well. We can care about one another as people, and be friendly - but we can't really be friends.... The student-teacher dynamic collapses otherwise - particularly in an introductory / lower-level class.
Which, to harp about e-mails a bit more, is why my correspondence with students always starts: "Dear (student name)" (i start most mail this way), and ends with me signing my name: "Best," or "Regards," etc. From my professional account, the permanent signature in my e-mail includes all relevant contact information.

[Darill Cyllem]

Anyone else coming up on the end of the semester?

[leiaorgana]

Well not exaclty... but I'm studying Finnish non-stop, this means I finnish a course level and the next day the following course starts, which makes me very anxious about July! I'll get a 3 weeks break!

I miss giving support classes for children :(

[Darill Cyllem]

How are your Finnish classes going, Leiaflo?

We're well into the semester for me. I spent two months as part of the teaching staff for my University's medical school's anatomy class - a rewarding yet grueling experience. Tomorrow is their last anatomy exam. :) I'm also teaching lab sections for my department's (Anthropology) human evolution class. This is great fun so far - I'm teaching evening labs and I have two groups of really great college kids. They ask lots of questions and it's very interesting so far!

[Jedi Master Harrison]

Do they ever ask questions that you don't know the answer to? And if so, how do you explain that, do you get them to research it, or do you do it yourself, or aid them? :scratchchin:

[leiaorgana]

we'll my classes ended so far and I'm doing a internship to improve it as is a part of the course, after that I don't know when I might take the last course, it depends when there are openings and if I get a steady job.

[Darill Cyllem]

Bumping the thread....

This semester I lead discussion sections for a class called "Sex, Evolution, and Behavior." It's an intermediate level college course. Really interesting stuff. Last week we discussed pregnancy and childbirth in humans. This week it's lactation and cooking (evolutionary significance thereof and possible evolutionary history of cooking).

[Darill Cyllem]

Do they ever ask questions that you don't know the answer to? And if so, how do you explain that, do you get them to research it, or do you do it yourself, or aid them? :scratchchin:
I missed this question somehow back when it was posted.....

In the introductory class I've taught, I very infrequently get course content questions I can't answer. In fact, I can't think of a specific example. If that were to happen, though, I look up the answer and let them know when we next have class. Especially if it's something I should have known.

More often, the kind of question I can't answer (lately, anyway) is the kind of question that doesn't necessarily have one answer. In that situation, I open it up for discussion by the entire class.

There have been a few occasions in anatomy lab where I'll forget something, in which case I look up the answer with the student on the spot.

[Zachaa]

YAY! The teaching thread! Thanks for digging that up :) I suppose I'll start with answering the original questions:

Do you teach?
Yes.

What do you teach?
6th grade Earth Science

What level do you teach?
6th grade- and lucky enough to have 5 of my 6 classes GATE. Totally unheard of for a new teacher. It was pure dumb luck- the district hired me early when I was still long-term subbing and promised me a position the next year. I waited ALL summer without a peep and FINALLY, two weeks before school started, I got a call from my current school for an interview. I think there was another candidate but it turned out the principal of the school was my high school vice principal, so I'm wondering if that had anything to do with it? Anyway, here I am and I feel SOOO LUCKY!!!

What do you like about it? What drives you crazy sometimes?
I like the kids! Wow! I can't believe I'm saying that! Last year, the long term subbing was AWFUL. I came in the middle of the year and the students wanted their old teacher back, and it was REALLY hard to like them when they kept chanting "WE WANT (OLD TEACHER'S NAME)"- which they ACTUALLY did IN CLASS and I ended up crying... which was a bad idea... but there was really no stopping it. What drives me crazy? Students that are obviously smart and capable but CHOOSE to goof off and not do their work. And I consider ALL my students capable of the work I give them (or why would I even give it?) so this can get on my nerves!


Share some of your teaching strategies... trouble shoot your classroom dilemmas.
My philosophy is to focus on teaching the skills using the facts, not the other way around. They can always look stuff up in books or the internet. They need to learn how to read/digest/manipulate the information and to solve problems. I don't like bookwork. But it being my Very First Year, I don't exactly have a lot of lesson plans already made, so I find myself making "placeholder" lessons that I'm not entirely satisfied with but that I can go back and fix next year, assuming I get the same grade. My biggest problem right now is my fear of doing labs because they are SO complex and take SO much prep and time. But it's how the kids learn and it's what they want to do, so I am going to have to get over that fear.

Sorry 'bout the long-winded post. It feels good to connect with other teachers, though. Makes me feel not so lonely :)

[Darill Cyllem]

Excellent, Zachaa :)

I totally hear you on the wanting students to achieve all that they can! There is, after all, a reason I think the assignments are worthwhile. I remember how much busy work sucks.

I bet the labs will be fun once you get used to the format, too. Try not to sweat it too much. For me, the key for labs is to give the students really specific instructions that they can follow. They end up being more like general guidelines for my students, but they really like to have an overview of what all is in the room that day, what they should see and do at each station (if that's applicable), and how each thing ties in with the overall course or topic for the lesson. The anatomy students like to have a checklist, too, for all the structures they're supposed to learn.

[Saffron]

Hi. I thought I'd pop in and just quickly give you the low-down on my teaching career.

I am in my fourth year of teaching.
I teach high school, grades 9 to 12 (ages 14 -18)
I am a qualified English, Social Science, Special Education and Guidance teacher. However, I generally teach Business Computer Applications and Entrepreneurship. I usually have a section or two of Special Education and I also periodically teach French and art.

I love being a teacher and I enjoy working with teens. I am also a mentor to girls who are having trouble adjusting to high school or are experience other emotional problems. I think the most important thing we can teach young girls is to feel good about themselves and to learn to communicate effectively.

The only downside to teaching is dealing with administrators! If I ultimately leave teaching, it will be because of the bureaucratic b*llsh*t, not because of the kids.

I guess that's it for now.

[Zachaa]

Wow, Saffron, that's quite a spread! I'm glad you love teaching, and it sounds like you're making a world of difference out there!

I am reading some stories I asked my 6th graders to write about going to the center of the Earth using real facts, and they are HILARIOUS! There's just so many, though!

[Blizzard]

The only downside to teaching is dealing with administrators! If I ultimately leave teaching, it will be because of the bureaucratic b*llsh*t, not because of the kids. That's about it. It's the best job in the world, but I could do it a lot better without interference from co-workers and admins.

[Darill Cyllem]

That's fantastic, Saffron :)
I think mentoring young women is just so important. It helps so much to know someone cares what's going on with you (who maybe isn't your mom). That's just such a rough age for pretty much everyone.

How's your grading going, Zachaa?
I've got lots of grading this semester - nothing like a full time teaching job, but it does get tedious! At least they wrote good stories, though.
Do you have the same group of kids pretty much all day, Zachaa - or do your 6th graders switch classes?

Hang in there, everyone, with crap administrations / bosses :grouphug:
+ special :hugs: for Blizzee

[Jedi Master Harrison]

Saffron mentors young boys too......................



:bye:

[Saffron]

Saffron mentors young boys too......................

:bye:



"Go DIRECLTY to the detention room! :whip: Do not pass GO, do not collect 200$"

[T-bone]

I taught web design for a few years (2002-05) and I really enjoyed it. Adults. It was interesting watching people with NO technical know-how at all end the course with websites built. Still talk to a few students here and there.

My wife also owns a day care and teaches there. I think she's also K certified.

[Saffron]

^teaching adults can be more difficult, especially when it relates to technology. There are no discipline problems with adults, but they are not sponges like kids are. It's amazing how computer literate kids are these days.

[T-bone]

Yea it was definitely interesting and a few of the older folks did drop out but a few younger ones did too. Still, 90% or more stayed and definitely learned something. I really did enjoy it.

[Saffron]

It's very rewarding to know a subject and pass it on to others. Teaching computers is great because the kids want to be in class as it is fun, and also they get to see the end product of their hard work.

[Darill Cyllem]

Teaching slightly older adults is even a bit different from teaching college kids - it can be very high reward.

It's great you had a good experience with teaching, T, and really cool that you are still kind of in touch with some students.

[Blizzard]

I'll stick with K-2. They are my favorite age group to teach. They are full of questions and they aren't afraid of bugs.

[Darill Cyllem]

There's definitely something really appealing about little kids. I did a class for small kids, aged about 6-8, one summer at the Science Museum, and having them *so* amped up about everything was really quite a nice change from the blank stares I got all the previous semester from my 8am lab section college students....

Of course, being used to teaching older folks, the young kids were something of a challenge! There was one kid who was a little bit younger than everyone else, but they let him in the class because his big sister was in it. I remember one day they were supposed to write a story about an animal and the food chain (or something like that) and most of the kids were all excited and writing tons and talking about what animals they were going to write about, andandandand!! And the younger kid says: "I don't know how to write!"
:lol:
It was fantastic. I told him he should tell a story with pictures and write his name on it, and then he got all psyched up, too.
Great stuff.

[Zachaa]

Do you have the same group of kids pretty much all day, Zachaa - or do your 6th graders switch classes?

My 6th graders switch classes and I have roughly 200 students. Which is a lot of stories. But a lot of them are funny so that makes it worth it.

But one of them... ok funny story for the day. Then I'll tell the gross story.
Funny story: When the students were working on their stories in class and I was walking around helping them, some of them asked me to read what they had so far. And I was reading this one girl's and... her main character is named "Captain Testicles." OMG. I was at a loss for words. How do you... does she even know what those are? She really doesn't seem the type to make a joke like that. I had NO idea what to say or how to bring "that" up to her. So I took the "weenie" way out and said her story looked good so far (and it did... except for that). I haven't graded her paper yet but I went looking for it and to my horror, it's still there... only it's Mayor Testicle now. I was kinda hoping her parents would check it and would... um... educate her...

Gross story: One of my students got a very sudden, very explosive nosebleed in the middle of class today. He panicked and ran to the FARTHEST trash can, and dripped blood EVERYWHERE!! Good thing I'm good with the blood. Not so much with the vomit, but thankfully that hasn't happened... yet...

Ahhhhh, teaching!

[Saffron]

^ sometimes when something like that (testicles) comes up the best thing to do is just ask. "Suzie? Do you know what a testicle is?" At least she was using anatomically correct terminology. Better than "Captain Nuts" or "Mayor Balls". :laughing:

Nosebleeds aren't so bad. When you do get the vomiting child you'll thank the Lord for the custodians.

[Blizzard]

:rofl: Major Testicle!! I love it. Last year after we got a shipment of new books I was so thankful that a 6th grade girl brought me one of the new books that said, "blow job" in it and she new it was bad. One of her friends said out loud in front of the class, "What's a blow job?" If she had read the book she'd have known. I didn't know they were now adding oral sex to teen fiction. And in my day they thought Are You There God, It's Me Margaret was bad.

I had a bleeder in my library last week. The custodians didn't get to it in time and I now have permanent spots in my carpet.

[T-bone]

HEY - there is only ONE Captain Testicles!
I like to call him Kopernikuz.

[Blizzard]

^ :laughing:

I got an e-mail this morning from a friend that was a whole chain of e-mails thanking me for doing something. Funny thing was I never saw any of the e-mails until someone sent me the chain directly because it was between licensed staff only. They all know I am not licensed staff. :rolleyes: But that's what I work with all the time.

[Blizzard]

I could so turn this into the teacher/co-worker vent thread. Don't let me! :wink:

I just overheard one teacher tell a volunteer, "I have a student who watches The Simpsons every day, twice a day. I think maybe once a week is enough. Would you like to talk to him about it?" :blink: :omg:

Doesn't everyone watch The Simpsons every day at 6 and 6:30pm? I know I do. :laughing:

[Darill Cyllem]

^Maybe the teacher thought the volunteer needed the info on when the show airs?

[Blizzard]

LOL, maybe.

[kopernikuz]

HEY - there is only ONE Captain Testicles!
I like to call him Kopernikuz.
Huh-wha??? :blink:

Is that because of my fortitude and gutsiness?

[Blizzard]

It's because you are a mod now and getting picked on comes with the job. :lol:

[kopernikuz]

lol... well I suppose if it's for the reasons I mentioned it could be a compliment :P

[Zachaa]

Blizz- eeew, sorry to hear about the carpet! I have tile in my classroom, thankfully, so blood comes right up.

I just read the most fantastic story! Not only was it HILARIOUS but it included all the facts! WOW! I just have to share the opening paragraph; it made me laugh for several minutes straight!

"At one time, five years into the future there once is a man named Omar. He had a son named Jacob but what they didn't know was that their oversized toilet flushed to the center of the Earth. They also didn't know that some neighborhood terrorists were planning to use their toilet to flush a bomb powerful enough to blow up the Earth. On their journey to stop the bomb Omar and Jacob learn about the layers of the earth and take a short vacation to China."

And it got even better! The son hears noises coming from the bathroom in the middle of the night, walks in on the terrorists flushing their bomb, and they flush him down too! So Dad goes to rescue him.:rofl:

This is among those things that make teaching WORTH IT!!!

P.S. He got 47/45 :)

[Darill Cyllem]

^Fantastic! What a great story!
Sounds like you've got some creative students :)

I'm giving an exam Tuesday. Boo.
Grading will ensure.
Double Boo.

[Saffron]

I've finally started supply teaching. Not a bad gig really. Go in, hand out work left by teacher, go home. Robotic really. It is, however, nice to see the kids again.

[Darill Cyllem]

Is that filling in for an absent teacher, Saffron?

[Saffron]

Yes. I am booked ahead of time or on the morning of the day they need me. It's just for this semester and then next semester I'm back full time to teach grade 10, 11 and 12 Visual Art.

[Darill Cyllem]

Sounds like kind of a nice break... in some ways, anyway.
Bet you're anxious to get back to a regular schedule, though. I'd be, anyway!

[Zachaa]

Yes. I am booked ahead of time or on the morning of the day they need me. It's just for this semester and then next semester I'm back full time to teach grade 10, 11 and 12 Visual Art.

Substitute teaching? Brave! I did only a day or two before having a mental breakdown. That could have just been the places I was subbing for, though. I eventually went back to my old high school, which is a science and math magnet, and it was like going home! It restored my faith in humanity!

Visual art sounds like a really fun subject, although I bet it's tough having to teach three different grades. Unless, are the students all mixed up in your classes? Then it might not be so bad if it's only one or two preps.

In the meantime I am spending my Veterans day holiday GRADING. These stories are taking FOREVER!!! The latest "funny moment" was a student who reported that the temperature of the crust was between -30 and 120 degrees "Fear and Height." LOL!!!! I gotta give her props... she spelled "height" right!!

[Darill Cyllem]

The latest "funny moment" was a student who reported that the temperature of the crust was between -30 and 120 degrees "Fear and Height." LOL!!!! I gotta give her props... she spelled "height" right!!
Hee hee!
But do 6th graders not normally know how to spell "height??"

[Saffron]

Substitute teaching? Brave! I did only a day or two before having a mental breakdown. That could have just been the places I was subbing for, though. I eventually went back to my old high school, which is a science and math magnet, and it was like going home! It restored my faith in humanity!

Visual art sounds like a really fun subject, although I bet it's tough having to teach three different grades. Unless, are the students all mixed up in your classes? Then it might not be so bad if it's only one or two preps.



Some days I think I might have a breakdown. One class yesterday had me thinking that maybe teaching wasn't for me after all. This is actually my first time being a substitute teacher. I'd been teaching full time for 3 years up until this year. Our school board has been going through declining enrollment, so therefore teachers are put on surplus. It really sucks! Hopefully, this year I will be safe from the surplus ax. I've heard that after 5 years, your pretty much safe as far as job stabilities goes. We'll see.

I've taught visual art once before. It's not my qualified teaching area, but I really enjoy it. I'll have 2 classes, one grade 11/12 split University bound students, and one grade 10 Open class. I'm looking forward to being in an Art room again.

[Darill Cyllem]

That does sound like fun!
The visual art bit... not the "surplus" bit.

I have about a bajillion exams to grade now. *sigh* I hope it'll be less painful than last time. At least their final papers will be *typed*.

[Zachaa]

I spent a full day grading stuff and FINALLY got through all the stories. I was grading from 9 until 4. And it didn't even seem like all that much!

And I had everything nice and planned for next week until I remembered I had a sub on Tuesday due to stupid district first-year training. They take me out once a month and it TOTALLY messes up my block schedule. I feel like the days are wasted every time. *sigh* And I learned most of the stuff they're going over now in college so it's really not helping all THAT much. Oh well. Only one more year of this.

[Darill Cyllem]

Well done getting all the stories graded, Zachaa.
Hope your training isn't too horrible....

[Blizzard]

Cam just started Minnesota Online High School today! I hope he can keep up with it.

[Darill Cyllem]

That's really good news, Blizz! Fingers crossed for him!

[Solo]

Cam just started Minnesota Online High School today! I hope he can keep up with it.

Good luck to Cam and to you. :hug:

[Blizzard]

Thanks guys!

He is really liking it so far because it's like an online challenge to see what percentage he can get with each quiz. And no one is telling him what to do. But it's a lot of reading so he was using the YouTube text reader to have it read out loud to him because he's lazy. I think he finally downloaded a text reader last night.

Yesterday he found the old Nintendo 64 and had it all set up to play with me when I got home. But when I was ready to play he said, "I can't, I am doing homework." :bigsmile:

[Saffron]

^ good for him. Our school board offers online courses, and they have become very popular with students. Some kids just need to be out of the classroom environment, and I dont' blame them. Who wants to be put in a concrete box for the day, every day? Not me that's for sure!

[Blizzard]

The Online High School website says that half of all high school classes will be online in 10 years. We shall see.

[Jedi Master Harrison]

^ That would be a disaster, kids need social interaction.

[Darill Cyllem]

^Oh, I definitely agree about the social interaction, but mixing it up with in class and on-line is probably really good for some kids. Like Saffron says, being cooped up is a lot less tolerable for some people.
I don't think I'd very much like teaching an on-line class - for me the reward is all about the interaction with students and on-line can be so impersonal - but I'll probably end up doing it at some point in time. If I could somehow run on-line classes more long term and make it like the GS, that would be good, though.

[Zachaa]

Online high school? Interesting! I hope that it actually is as cool as it sounds!

Today I went to my first middle school dance since.... middle school. Not much has changed, to be honest. They're still playing the same crappy eardrum-shatteringly loud music. There were still dramatic tears, and "indecent" dancing, people dragging reluctant friends onto the dance floor. I could SMELL the hormones. I actually kinda had fun being an observer. A lot of my kids were there and they seemed to be having fun. I was surprised that they played "I Kissed A Girl"- I thought that song was lawsuit prone! And especially at a middle school where the parents can be kinda crazy.... anyway. Good times.

[Blizzard]

LOL @ Smell the hormones!

When is your spring break, Zachaa?

[Blizzard]

I love this video regarding college.

YouTube - A Vision of Students Today

[Saffron]

Great video. I had a group of friend who all brought laptops to class during teacher's college...we all chatted on msn during lectures. It was sometimes hard to keep a straight face especially when someone commented on what was being discussed in class.

Students today are outgrowing the classroom. Our school does not allow ipods or cell phones in class and kids will do anything to sneak them in. How can we expect students to take their studies seriously when they have 500-600$ worth of technology in their pockets, high speed internet at home, and an 8 year old textbook on the desk? Our school has one Smartboard and ever other classroom has chalkboards.

I am one of the few teachers in my school who embraces technology. We have a computer program called Kurzweil that can be used to scan books to be read back to students who are learning disabled. I am the only teacher who actually uploads the books to the student's ipods/mp3 players. The technology in our school is laughable. We only have one modern computer lab which is mostly used by the technology teachers.

I could go on and on.

[Javen]

^ That would be a disaster, kids need social interaction.
But people shop online and people get degrees from College online.

I'd rather shop online than go stand in long lines at big stores. Except for grocery shopping.

[Darill Cyllem]

^I'm not sure an on-line only college degree is a great choice. Depends on the student, of course, and I think on-line courses can be a good supplement to a more traditional college style thing. But especially for upper-level classes where discussion and interaction are so important... i just don't think on-line courses can give you quite the same thing and on-line classes are *so* much more effort to manage for the teacher (at least at this point in time). Now, for intro-level courses, maybe on-line is a better option.

[bruciarsi]

Ive done a bit of one on one traing with staff at work. When i get back from leave though im gonna be taking little training groups to get people up to spped on a few of our systems.
Im a little nervous about it not that the groups are huge bout 5-7 people but its a first for me.
Im hoping that i can hide of to the side of the screen and just talk them through things.

[Darill Cyllem]

I'm sure you'll be fine ^ :)
If you know the info you'll be presenting, and it sounds like you do, all you've got to do is just take it step by step - like you said. Give them time to ask questions - wait at least five seconds before moving on when you ask if they've got questions. It'll feel like forever if no one says anything right away, but waiting a bit will let them know they can actually ask and give them a chance to actually formulate a question.
Let us know how it goes!
:hugs:

[Zachaa]

^ YAY, wait time! Also something that I need to work on :)

I just finished grading about half of my students' Cornell Notes. Teaching note taking is SO complicated. I didn't realize how much it actually involves. Especially when you're also trying to teach "write it in your own words" at the same time. My kids HATE that! And yet... it is so important because it shows you actually know what the heck you're talking about! *sigh*

[Darill Cyllem]

Please, please send them to college with the ability to take notes! :lol:
It will help them soooo much.
You can tell them your college instructor friend told you so :wink:

Even if their instructor posts power point presentations on-line for their convenience, they will learn so much more if they can take good notes - with the proximate benefit of getting a better grade on the test. (Ultimate benefit of, like... actually learning something you might remember after the class is over. And since college should be about more than just passing tests....)