rcatkinson’s Neighborhood

Go forth and fill your libraries with media.

Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.

~daisy

I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.

I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.

Cheers,

daisy

The blog article, "High Expectations? Not so fast," from (http://garyrubinstein.teachfor.us/2009/08/30/high-expectations-not-so-fast/) argues that while its good for first year teachers to have high expectations, one must be realistic as well.  Specifically, the article argues that overly high standards can actually hurt students because they will constantly fail.  As a second year teacher, I agree with the post completely.  Yes, it is important to have high standards (and the article does not disagree with this), but if I have a classroom of students who are supposedly ready to be in Algebra II and they cannot graph a straight line, it will do no good to teach them the quadratic formula.  

Have real expectations, but don't expect to be a miracle worker.  A student who cannot read should not attempt to dive into Proust, it will just humiliate and discourage them.  Start with Green Eggs and Ham and work your way up.  However, when you do teach Green Eggs and Ham, ensure you have high expectations of the students work based of the book.

Is Mississippi a third world nation?

The Blog post, "Is Part of the United States in the Third World," (http://mapscroll.blogspot.com/2009/05/human-development-index-by-state.html) attempts to rank US states in line with the world nations in regards to their human development index (HDI) reading.  In the blog, a list is presented with rankings of nations by their HDI mixed in with nations.  Mississippi is listed at 76th, below Russia and Ecuador.  At first glance, this seems terrible, an American state, down below the home of Siberia and a South American non-powerhouse.  However, the blog is somewhat meaningless, and this is noted in the first paragraph of the post: "The US HDI is not at all comparable to the world HDI.."  What this says is that you cannot directly compare the US state HDI to other nations HDI.  This make the list irrelevant.  

A quick google search paints a more rosy picture for Mississippi.  Ecuador, with a normalized (ppp) GDP per capita of under $8k, is much poorer than Mississippi with a GDP (non normalized) of just under $27k, over three times greater than Ecuador's, and that non adjusted.  It seems silly to state that Mississippi is a third world nation.  Anyone who has been to a poor area of a third world country can easily attest to the abject poverty which makes Mississippi look good.  Kids go hungry in Mississippi and attend shoddy schools.  In third world nations, kids worry about starvation and school is a pipe dream.  By claiming that Mississippi is at the same level as a third world nation unfairly cheapens the term and shows the authors naivety of what a third world country truly is.  

Bad news. As many of you have probably noticed, the Amazon Conduit was not fixed in the last week's release. Unfortunately, there was an undetected bug that is preventing the conduit from working.

We are working on this bug fix and hope to have the Conduit back up and running this week.

I will keep you posted.

Thank you for being so patient.

~daisy

Blog Action Day

4 comments

Blog Action Day is every October 15th, when blogger are asked to post something about a single issue to show our strength and conviction as an online community. It's a great way to feel connected to the greater good, and the participation of so many bloggers to support the world's leading non-profit organizations is something you can do to help, right now. By blogging today, you're supporting some of the world's leading non-profits and sharing your voice for change.

This year's topic is climate change, and we'd love to read your thoughts on the topic. If you participate, leave us a link to your post in the comments, so we know to check out your post!

Go to www.blogactionday.org to learn more, get a badge for your blog showing your participation, and see some ideas for your post on climate change.

Can't wait to read your posts!

~ daisy

Classroom management, or how to keep the class focused and working, was an area I struggled with my first year, especially during my first semester.  This year, my classroom management has been much improved  Part of the change stems from the fact that I no longer teach Freshmen, but I've also gotten better at being a manager of the class.  Detailed below are some changes I've made this year that have helped foster a more structured and effective learning environment:

    1.    Be Confident

As the teacher, you can win every argument.  Better yet though, as a teacher, you should never have to enter into an argument with a student.  If a student is doing something that is bothering you, warn them that they must modify their behavior, and if they don't, give them a consequence.  If you do this unflinchingly, you will limit students questioning your actions.  I gave out a detention last week because someone was tapping their pencil.  I warned them first, and then followed through.  The student was upset about this until one of his classmates turned and said something to the effect of you knew that would happen if continued your behavior.  

    2.    Stick to your guns

This ties into number one, once you have made a decision, it is set in stone.  If someone complains, tell them see me after class, if someone wont stop whining, give them another consequence.  If you take back a consequence it sets a standard that consequences are negotiable, and this will be a grand mistake.

    3.    Grade

I'm going to reach out on a limb and say that not all of your kids are passing your class, and furthermore, the "bad" kids are often making the low marks.  Just as important, your "good" kids are probably passing, and some may be doing quite well.  Grade.  If you grade papers and pass them back with some frequency, you are constantly letting the students with low mark know that they will fail if they continue to lack focus (the reason 75% of my kids fail), and you will be letting the top student know that their hard work is appreciated and has a positive effect on their grades.  Although it will depend student to student, most students want to pass your class.  Even the students who say they don't care still do some work for a reason, they would like to pass.  If you never grade you will give the impression that work done in class has little or no bearing on the student passing, and this will lead to the students doing less work and at a lower quality.  

"I should get one of those signs that says "One of these days I'm gonna get organezized"."
                                - Travis Bickle

Every two days I see in excess of 150 students and grade just as many papers.  In nearly every class I have some sort of handout, in my ACT prep class (we don't have a book) I may give out three handouts.  This constant stream of work creates a constant stream of papers going to me and back out to the students.  In order to manage this stream, I've had to hone my organizational skills.  Below are a few detailed points which have helped me become more organized:

    1.    Have a one class grading turnaround:

What this means is that if you turn in a quiz or test on Monday, the next time I see you (Wednesday) you will get the paper back with a grade on it.  This prevents a backlog of grading which will drive you mad and wreak havoc on your organizational system. 

    2.    Throw away papers you don't grade promptly: 

This point ties into the first.  If I don't grade it right away, its going to become an organizational problem, so I throw it away and give everyone a participation grade for doing the work (I do this very infrequently this year, in fact, only once so far).

    3.    Create electronic folders for every class:

Yeah, your computer will get messy as well.  Create a system of folders and subfolders to stay on top of your game.  To open todays lesson plan and resources (its an exam day!), I click on Murrah 2009, September AL 2, Twelve.  This is especially good to do your first year, because if you have the same preps next year, you're golden. 

    4.    Keep your classroom clean:

My roommates will attest that at times I am not the cleanest person.  While teaching I often become covered in expo marker.  However, my class is clean.  In the back there are trays of grading with no more than one assignment inside.  They will be passed back today to the students, and then the assignments will leave my class.  I don't have piles of paper stacked about.  If you get in the habit of putting everything in the proper place, you wont lose your handouts, your old exams, and so on.  Once again, this ties into grading things promptly. 

Overall, organization is important in many ways.  My largest piece of advice is don't let grading stack up.  Old papers will clutter your room, and not turning back papers promptly will lead to issues with classroom management, which is my next topic....

*Required

So I am loving my second year.  It is SOOOO much easier than the beginning of last year.  This blog is essentially a heads-up for people who teach ninth graders.

The hardest part of this year has been STARTING OVER.

If you teach (or have taught) ninth graders, there is a drastic improvement between the beginning of the year and the end.  Besides developing some sense basic maturity and confidence, by the end of the year students are able to do things on their own.  They understand your routines, grading system, etc. and have learned how to live in your classroom.  It's great at the end of the first year.

Then reality sets in the next August.  A whole new group of knuckleheads.  Ninth graders are clueless (I'm sure you've discovered this).  The hardest part, then, is going through it all again.  Teaching them how to act towards each other.  Teaching them how to look up page numbers.  Teaching them that fighting is dumb.  Teaching them that what they found in the book really is the correct answer and they don't need to call on my to check it every three seconds.

It's exhausting, but I know that they will get better.  The satisfaction of seeing them grow up is what makes it worth it.  The difference between the beginning and end of ninth grade is greater than any other high school year.  It's nice being a part of that.

Go Irish!

*Required

I can’t say that I’m the most organized person.  I try to be.  Believe it or not, I’m actually a neat freak who just can’t keep up.  Here are my tips and tricks:

• Buy a plastic organizer with one section for each class so that you can keep your papers organized until they are handed back

• Keep binders.  Just as you may make your students keep binders with worksheets and notes, do the same with your worksheets/notes/answer keys/tests/lesson plans.  Keeping this stuff organized will make your next semesters much easier (especially if you teach a one semester class).

• Eliminate the clutter.  Have students clean up in your last period.  Have certain students clean up paper and others put books, etc. away.  Straighten desks when you leave for the day so that it doesn’t look disorganized when you come in the next day.  It’s a small thing, but it’ll make you look forward to the day rather than dread it.

And finally…

• THROW STUFF AWAY!  If you haven’t gotten around to grading something from the second week by now, the students will have forgotten.  Just toss it.  I can promise you they won’t know the difference.  It’ll make you feel better too.

That’s it.