Entering a new world

Well, tomorrow I'm entering a world I vowed never to inhabit: substitute teaching. I'm meeting with a principal at a private high school. It will be very hard to put myself into a roll of "babysitting" when I so want to instruct.

Trina's concerns

How does a teacher create a desire in students to improve their writing skills? A comment earlier asked this question and it's a doozy. I wish I had the magic lamp and could answer. One of the only ways I ever saw a difference was by using a rubric to grade. Rubrics accomplish several things. One, they take away the "the teacher doesn't like me" crutch. My favorite rubrics awarded 80% of the grade to content, organization, sentence structure/word choice but kept the 20% for grammar. I have never believed that  students who have terrible grammar or lazy grammar should make an A on a paper. When they finally realize that they are hampering themselves by consistenly being lazy (ie texting language such as bc or u) or some incorrect grammar, they are a bit more serious during the prewriting, drafting stage. No matter how many positive remarks I ever made, the only strategy that ever seemed to catch their attention was the lower grade.

Today's Truth

Today's truth has nothing to do with teaching but does make a comment on life: bikes after age 60 may not be the best idea. I'm having a difficult time typing since my left wrist in encased in a splint. I was not a pretty sight as I landed in the flowerbed along the Tennessee River. I literally stopped to smell the roses!

Is Writing Going the Way of Reading??

Of course, I'm a dork; that goes without saying, right, since I'm an English teacher. I love words, the sounds of them, the nuances of them. I think that students like a teacher who has a passion for his/her subject matter. They might not like your subject, but they like it that you do! I used to tell my students that I live with the illusion that they think everything I say is exciting and they hang on my every word. They would laugh and I would, too, but I cautioned them not to burst my bubble--side thought: burst--when was that dropped in preference to bust--BUST IS NOT A VERB--Back to writing and reading: good writers are readers; reading broadens the vocabulary; a wide vocabulary leads to clearer, more interesting writing--agree??

It's so true

Where have all of the pronouns gone???? The typical conversations today are peppered with "him and I went..." "me and John went..." You get the picture? Or perhaps you don't. I think our laziness in other areas has drifted into our speech and even worse to our writing. I used to hear "him and I" but the students usually wrote with some degree of correctness; now, however, it's as if no one has the slightest idea of the difference between nominative and objective case--I know this makes me sound old but how is it acceptable to speak so slovenly; we wouldn't accept this in math. If it was easier to say one + one is four, would we just say all right???

And another truth

Never say never. Today I will attend a seminar that is required for anyone who is associated with a particular private school here in Chattanooga. No, I am not going to be teaching but I may substitute there. That has always been a gigantic NO for me: substitute teaching. I guess that through osmosis, chalk must have entered my dna and I am compelled to be in a classroom! Addditionally, in the never-say-never scenario, I was a teacher for 8 years before I became a mother. I can assure you that every self-righteous comment I ever made about parents I have had to eat. In fact, I've that a banquet from those "My child would never..." "Where was his/her mother when ..." You get the idea; parenting is oh so easy when you're not actually a parent. I also thought I was such a patient person until I had children. God does have a wonderful sense of humor!! Have a good day.

Another truth

The teachers' workroom or lounge can be a place refreshing or toxic, especially to younger teachers. Some professions such as police or medicine develop a type of gallows humor which seems to be a stress reliever. Teachers do as well. I have often cringed when a substitute would join us at the lunch table and a teacher would make a remark such as "That kid is such a mouthbreather." Wow, that sounds so cruel and more than likely the teacher is only reacting to a series of situations with that student or the class in general and is merely letting off steam. Remember when you've seen a mother make an ugly remark to her child in the grocery store and you were shocked? We don't know what preceded that scenario. I'm not absolving teachers, or moms for that matter; I'm just pointing out that most of the time that teacher is only "blowing off steam."

today's truth

Today's truth is that teachers can control the neck and the eyes but not the brain. Point in case: I was on day 2 or 3 in our first unit of British Literature, the Norman invasion and Beowulf. I had probably used the term Norman or Norman invasion 15-20 times in those two days when a student raised his hand. Hurrah a question. I was pumped! "Yes, Derrick, do you have a question?" "Yeah, are you saying Norman or Morman?" Pssssssssssssssst, the sound of deflation. After I tried to explain with as little sarcasm as possible the timeframe of 1066 to the date of Joseph Smith, I continued with the invasion. Yes, the eyes were open and pointed in my direction so the neck was turned the correct direction as well, but the brain was freefloating.

Welcome

This is the first posting for me and I must say that I have some trepidations. Since I've confessed that I am newly retired, you can calculate my age!  I am not entirely comfortable with computers but here I go. I hope this site will be one in which I can share my 35 years of experience with ideas for teaching, classroom management, dealing with parents--you know the practical areas that education classes never seem to discuss. I have been a supervisor to many college students and first year teachers and have always been amazed at what they never discussed in their classes. Many times they were concerned that someone would think less of them or principals would evaluate them harshly if they were having discipline issues. This is the place to let your hair down and know that someone will probably have a great idea or at least a shoulder to cry or lean on safely!

What's on your mind now that a new year stretches in front of you?