Pile of Grading

Wants vs Needs

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:57:40 -0500

In my senior economics course I had students write down 5 needs and 5 wants. Here is one student’s example of a want: a gallbladder. When I asked him why he said because you don’t NEED it, but you really WANT it.

Christmas Break

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 19:01:37 -0500

This year we decided to do something new at our school and have a finals week. The only thing we didn’t count in was a blizzard. So kiddos thank your lucky stars because finals are cancelled and break gets to start two and a half days early. :)

Parent Teacher Conferences

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:05:08 -0400

I’m not sure how many teachers enjoy parent teacher conferences, yet they make me do them all the same. I have always felt unsure of how to approach different issues with parents. What I’d like to tell them is “Little Susie can’t stop talking in class, even if I assign her time after school, so she misses the concepts being taught in the lesson.” However, because I’m not 100% sure how a parent will react, I say something like “Oh Susie is doing okay in class, talks a bit, but I think she can do better.” I think it waters down my message and makes the parent feel all warm in fuzzy inside that Little Susie is doing just fine, when really Little Susie has no idea what has been going on in class for two weeks and is probably going to fail the test next week. I think I need to talk to some more experienced teachers and see how they deal with this issue, because I’m sure they’ve dealt with their fair share of less than angelic students.

On the plus side, even though I’ll be at work until 9 p.m. I will get a chance to get caught up on some grading and lesson planning. This way it won’t have to come home with my on my three-day weekend. (Ha…that sounded almost serious, of course some of it will always come home with me…do you think I have a magic lesson planning fairy?)

"You guys have a test tomorrow, so make sure you bring a calculator, some scrap paper, a pencil, and..."

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:19:00 -0400

“You guys have a test tomorrow, so make sure you bring a calculator, some scrap paper, a pencil, and tissues so you can cry as you fail.”

- My math teacher being encouraging (via fake-and-phony)

End of the world

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:47:00 -0400

Student: Hey did you notice that today’s date is “one one-one-one one?

Me: Yep, now we just have to wait 10 more days for the end of the world on eleven-eleven-eleven.

Student: Is that when the world is really going to end?

So, if the world ends in 10 days I just want to be remembered for the prophet that I am.

This is what I wish the high school students who came by my...

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:40:00 -0400

This is what I wish the high school students who came by my house last night begging for candy would have responded with. Instead I just got lots of “iunnos.”

P.S. If you teach high school students, you know that “iunno” is a favorite catch phrase.

This is an accurate example of what I woke up to find this...

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:43:53 -0400

This is an accurate example of what I woke up to find this morning outside of my house. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t the pumpkin my toddler of a son had picked out with his Grandma. However, I did tell the students a reward would be given to finding the culprit. A student asked what I would do when they found them and I said I didn’t know. Her response? ”You should punch them in the face… or wait… you should smash a pumpkin in their face.” Needless to say, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I’m probably going to go down a different road.

Even teachers drive me crazy

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:32:21 -0400

At a recent staff meeting, we were discussing as a staff if we should create incentives for students during finals week. For example, if a student had an A and missed less than 3 days of school they would be exempt. The conclusion reached was that individual teachers could create their own incentives with administrator approval. I was shocked and appalled to hear a teacher ask if the incentive could be no final for a student who had an F. The reasoning behind this was, then she wouldn’t have to deal with students who don’t want to be here. There was a proverbial awkward silence before we all collectively asked…are you kidding me? Thankfully our administrator told her that would NOT be an option.

Moral of the story…students aren’t the only lazy ones in the educational system.