My Students are Hilarious.

On one of the first few days of school my students wrote out their expectations for how the class would behave in order to get along as a whole. Am I the only one who finds this implied threat hilarious?

Getting Hooked-

Teachers always hear about the importance of a good “hook” to interest students about a particular lesson. People say this because well, it’s true.  The first year I taught A Wrinkle in Time my students haaaated it. I taught it again this past year and the overall opinion was dramatically different. Now, I can’t place all the success on my beginning hook (there may have been an over-reliance on the audio book narrated by the author herself- speech impediment and all….whoopsies!), but it was a fun way to start the unit on science fiction and get everyone excited about the book before cracking it open.

Even if you aren’t reading A Wrinkle in Time, this hook can still work because it is directed at science fiction writing as a genre.

First, tell students to bring with them to class an account of a strange event–a UFO sighting, an example of psychic powers, or anything which could not be explained by our current technology. I gave them extra credit for bringing articles. My pre-AP kiddos eat up extra credit opportunities.

As prior preparation, you should put up the background paper and title for a bulletin board with some eye catching science fiction phrase. Leave space for students to post their pictures, but go ahead and get the ball rolling by posting some articles and pictures on the mind blowing topic of science, technology, space, etc. Leave the zany stuff for the students to bring, because that is what they will likely gravitate toward. I titled my bulletin board “A WRINKLE IN TIME: A LINK TO OTHER WORLDS?”

The next class period when students have their articles and pictures in hand we get to have a brief class show and tell and I get to fill them in on the exciting genre of science fiction (yah! Ender’s Game! Isaac Asimov! Cory Doctorow!) annnnd what cool time and space travel adventures will be in store for them while reading A Wrinkle in Time. 

Hooked.

Countdowns Lead to Explosions…

The school I work for will be out of session in 8 days. The kids are counting down, the teachers are counting down, there even is a countdown on the sign in sheet in the main office (it makes me smile each morning). Yet you ask, is there a countdown in my room? Do I speak in countdown numbers to my students? No. In the world of my classroom, I pretend school is the song that never ends, it goes on and on my friends.

Why?

Explosions. That’s why. Everything I know about life tells me that countdowns lead to explosions. A bomb being detonated. Fireworks at New Year’s Eve. Hysterics on American Idol.

Acme is far and away superior.

That’s not cool when translated into the classroom. I imagine brain explosions. Manage your students’ behavior and motivation very firmly in the final days of school. Think about the answers people give when describing what they would do if the world ended tomorrow. These answers are decidedly split into two factions- family time/praying and last minute pleasure seeking/general debauchery. Kids can sometimes look at the last couple days of school as the end of a large element of their lives. “I can’t get detention on the last day of school, so I can do whatev!” or “Homework doesn’t really matter now, school is out in two weeks!”

Whether you are teaching 7th graders (ahem!) or seniors about to graduate, try to look at those last days not as a futile end of days but as days in the school calendar just as important as a random Thursday in October. That being said, school is almost out for summer! Enjoy counting down those final days with a gleeful giddiness (in private)!

Totally unrelated awesome picture via Reddit.

Make that Trip to the Computer Lab Count

Do you feel like you are in a technology rut? Maybe your school doesn’t have the latest gear. Or maybe you just don’t know where to start. Whatever the issue, the best answer is to spend some time exploring the internet. Practically every time I begin a lesson, I start searching around to find different ways to introduce and practice ideas. I’m constantly discovering neat new websites that offer interactive elements and conversions from old to new (i.e. online storyboards, flashcards, visuals) formats. Just consider, students enjoy opportunities to be highly creative, and asking them to create a visual display using artskills.com  , notaland.com , or gliffy.com is probably much more appealing to their computer savvy minds.

This Bloom’s Taxonomy chart gives some great suggestions as to what websites aid in what skills. My person favorites include:

Prezi- bored with PowerPoint? These presentation templates will energize your material. prezi.com

Schooltube– the chart lists Youtube, but sidestep it for Schooltube. The content is more focused, student-friendly, and a site less likely to be blocked than Youtube. schooltube.com

WolframAlpha- this is a perfect search engine for the student who needs horse blinders while looking at Google or Wikipedia. WolframAlpha is a pared down, simplistic  World Almanac of information. It also does computations, which is handy. wolframalpha.com

Footnote- ignore of the somewhat misleading name, here you find historical documents- records, photos, government treaties. There is a fee for full access, but it can still be useful for free. footnote.com

Flashcardexchange- out of the many flash card sites out there, this one is user friendly, offers existing card sets created by others, and the cards can easily be downloaded and printed.   flashcardexchange.com

When I first found the Bloom’s graphic, I spent an hour or so looking at all the websites I wasn’t familiar with- some I’d never even heard of. No one is a born pro, so constantly try to educate yourself. Seek out new tools just by taking the time to surf around!

Also take a look at the ALA’s Top 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning:

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/bestlist/bestwebsitestop25.cfm

Drop Everything and Read

Tomorrow, April 12, is D.E.A.R. Day! D.E.A.R. stands for Drop Everything and Read. Sometimes D.E.A.R. is called Sustained Silent Reading. The main focus is to enjoy reading, so students choose their own books/comics/ magazines and silently read for 20-30 minutes. The teacher can even read!

So tomorrow in class-whatever the level- I encourage you to reserve some time to read. However, if you are just now hearing about this wonderful holiday (yes,yes, don’t snicker) and lesson plans are already set firmly, then set your own date to celebrate at a later time. On Thursday I am taking my students to the school’s book fair, which would make it a perfect day to D.E.A.R. Reading for pleasure is often overlooked, and when reading is enjoyable it is continued outside of the classroom!

This is the link to the official website for D.E.A.R…please notice the cute Ramona Quimby inspired art!

http://www.dropeverythingandread.com/NationalDEARday.html

Are Your Class Incentives Kinda Like Airline Rewards? Bleh!

Airline rewards….suck. This is a fact. The reward is usually something like, “buy 32 flights and receive a free 1 way ticket on this weekday in November!” Yet we all know as reasonable adults that we don’t truly need or deserve a reward, it is just an incentive to keep doing something. Students don’t need or deserve rewards either. Does that make me sound mean? Maybe, but it is the truth. As a teacher, keep that crabby ole’ thought in your mind, because the ultimate “reward” for a student is the knowledge gained. I had a college professor who said that “Success is your reward.” A reward has its motivational limits anyway.

However, there are many valuable reasons to give students rewards. I primarily focus on students who need to be encouraged and students who go above and beyond. Students who do what they have to…well, do you get a bonus for doing something (maybe even the bare minimum) you already are required to do? No. This attitude is what keeps rewards fun and special in my mind though.

I also have some principles when it comes to the reward itself….limit the candy. Yes, I do give out candy. Every time a kid gets a tootsie pop though, I think of the 20% of children in the US who are obese and I feel like a bad teacher! I recommend focusing on rewards which are useful or positive for the student. Since candy is such a go-to item and kids love it, here is a list of some other options that can compete.

• Pencils!
• Hand held pencil sharpener
• Stickers
• Erasers
• Leadership role in class activity
• Bonus Points
• Dismissal from class 2 minutes early
• Hall Pass
• Errands (yes, kids love to run errands for you!)
• Positive notes to parents
• Late work excuse
• Praise (so simple, but we forget)

You can also let your student choose the reward received! This also allows you some insight into what they most desire and perhaps why. Here is the ticket I give out:

Thank You for Being Great! This ticket can be redeemed for one of the below options: Þ   Email or Letter Home to Your Parents Informing Them of a Job Well Done! Þ   Late Homework Assignment Taken without Penalty! Þ   10 Bonus Points Added to a Low Grade! Þ   Extra Hall Pass when You are in Need! Your hard work and kindness is always appreciated in this class!

Yawns Don’t Mean I’m a Boring Teacher…

Most teenagers own phones. This is an obvious no-brainer, just take a look at the teens you see in public. Go to any mall, and you will notice them walking around in groups, all with phones in hand. Looking up some stats, most people seem to agree that the percentage of teenagers who own a cell phone is 75% -ish.

Now, as a highly reliable source myself, I’d say that 75%-ish of teens are also very sleep deprived. It’s easy to notice- the yawns, the glazed over look, the desire to put their heads down on their desk- but does this mean your class is boring or you should be worried that they are on some type of muscle relaxer? Nope. Recent studies are showing that those 75%-ish of teens are texting, and texting, and texting, even after they go to bed. An article on MSNBC details how, “Teens send an average of 34 texts a night (adding up to 3,400 a month) after going to bed — in some cases up to four hours after hitting the sack,” which is research they gathered from the JFK Medical Center.

I teach at the weird age when a kid has a phone but still has a bedtime.When talking to parents, concerns about if their child is getting enough sleep do come up. The parent is always baffled, because a bedtime is enforced, and previously I have been pretty confused as well. However, it’s easy to see how you would have no idea that your son or daughter was texting hours after they “went to bed.”

So as a teacher, I encourage you to talk to that persistently sleepy kid and ask, “Are you texting at night?” “Do you put your phone on silent when it is time to sleep?” Talk to the parents as well. This is something they can help their child fix, you can only bring it to their attention.

For the complete article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39917869/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

Empty Hands

We have all seen it in our classrooms. Those pesky kids who show up without any materials. No book, no pencil, no paper, and certainly no homework. So what do you do with those empty hands?

My first year on the job this really got to me. As a classic overachiever, lover of school, I was not able to understand what was going on in their head! Did they think they wouldn’t need anything? At some point however, I acceptable the fact that these empty-handed students just hadn’t been thinking…and that it would be okay, as long as there was someone else around to think of what to do with them.

No Pencil: I lend you one, so you lend me something in return. I take shoes, money, keys, jewelry. Repeat it like a mantra. Shoes, money, keys, jewelry. These are things your student will not want to leave without, so they will remember to swap back with you at the end of the hour. I do not take jackets, hats, binders, or other textbooks. They will leave without these. If they do leave their money, then buy yourself a candy bar and enjoy!

No Paper: “Sure, here is a sheet of paper. Now, do I need to call your mom and let her know that you need paper or can you?” (They can.) “Also, you never get something free in life. To earn that paper, you can pick up 3 pieces of paper/ trash off my floor before you leave today.” Maybe it sounds grouchy, but I stress that idea of not getting something for nothing a lot in my class. Entitlement is an awful personality trait.

No Book: Go get it from your locker, and take a tardy. This is something you as the teacher can’t instantly solve. They need it, but there are consequences for being unprepared. In my school district, two tardies equal one absence. This helps out the 6-12 teachers, but I’m not as familiar with elementary schools. So readers, if you are the student’s only teacher, what other solutions can you offer?

The pencil idea I learned from other, wiser co-workers and the solution for paper I created myself. Once again, pick and chose what you like and what will work for you. Ultimately, whatever you do in your classroom has to make you happy and hopefully avoids creating any resentful feelings to those who come with empty hands.

Weird Questions…Cause You Have Teacher Answers

One thing I never expected as a teacher was the weird questions. So many weird questions. As a teacher, it is easy for your students to see you as a “know it all,” and if they do- that’s GREAT! They think you are smart, that you are an authority on information, and a place they can go with their questions…their weird questions.

Be prepared to get some questions that come out of left field or questions that shock you as simple things you expected everyone to know. For example, an 11th grade boy once asked me, “What is communism?” I explained the highlights, shocked a 17 year old didn’t know about communism, when he threw me for another loop with, “Did the US ever have that?”

Just a few days ago a couple of my 7th grade girls stopped me in the hallway to ask me a question, “What is a Jew?” Being randomly approached mid-stride made me think at first that they were joking, starting in on some off-color joke. Then I realized, “These are just inquisitive 12 year olds who don’t know it all!”

I sometimes forget that I did not always “know it all,” hard as that might seem to believe! Building up that big storehouse of knowledge in our head takes a while, in fact, our whole lives. Sometimes the pieces of knowledge you think everyone already knows haven’t clicked into place yet. Be patient, explain the Mickey Mouse questions in a way that isn’t condescending or impatient. Be proud that you get to be that educator who helps them seek out answers.

There are plenty of other weird questions you can expect to answer, especially ones concerning who you are (I’d like to think it’s ’cause they care) like,  “Do you have kids that go to this school?” (even if you are 24 and you teach junior high) “Do you have a boyfriend?” (nonya!) or  “Where do you live?” (creeeepy) These are often funny and if too personal- don’t feel obligated to answer them! I like to turn the question around on them, because teens are more likely to want to talk about themselves than you.