teachers unite- Page 8

[jasonf]

Posted: 12/10/08 at 7:39pm

At least that makes for a decent story. Mine is just an idiot who thought we couldn't tell the difference between an admittedly good seventh grade writer and Gorky.

[violet72]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 9:55am

Ok one of my students is out sick and I must vent somewhere. This new lesson plan template they want us to use is ridiculous. I teach 4 grade levels and I have my plans finally down to 3 pages maybe 4 a week...well this new template would have me doing 5 pages per grade level...thats 20 pages of lesson plans a week....A WEEK!!!!...it's like 10am and I need a drink....I am so mad and frustrated....is it the 23rd yet??? I am going to talk to the principal and explain what a waste of paper that would be and that I am not like all the other specialist that see their students once maybe twice a week

[jasonf]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 10:27am

That is ridiculous. What a waste of time AND paper. My supervisor is apparently checking one lesson a MONTH from us (or at least that was my understanding at our last dept. meeting) - though we are expected to have our lessons ready if we get a drop in observation. Meanwhile, today I had the perfect example of when this strict lesson planning won't work. The kids are doing ads for persuasive writing, and, like most districts, we have a technology intiative going one. I'm trying to use imovie, garage band, photo booth - all this cool new stuff to make videos of the kids. We were about ready to perform today, when I realized that the kids had these little scripts making their work REALLY awkward in front of the computers. Rather than performing today, they are transferring their scripts to cue cards and taking still photos to insert into the video. Naturally my lesson plan says nothing like that for today - and had I gone ahead with performances they would be far less than they are capable of being. The point is rigidity in teaching is like (for all those who know nothing of what teaching is like) an actor who cannot deviate from a script or work in the moment -- sure, the job will be done, but will it be the best it can be?

[violet72]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 11:36am

I talked some sense into them. They are going to think of a new template for me. I am so glad my supervisor is so understanding and gives little hints when she will be popping by for obsrevations

So how crazy are your students this week? Monday and Tuesday next week will be a free for all but jungle bells fever is catching like wild fire in my district

[jasonf]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 1:09pm

The kids really aren't worse than usual - though we had eight kids in lunch detention today (not that it's uncommon to have a couple, but (haha) eight is more than enough.

Next week is just stupid - we're doing fun activities for two days since we'll have probably a quarter of the kids out and the other 3/4 won't be capable of serious thought anyway.

[singingwendy]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 8:41pm

Lesson plans, what are those? I'm in holiday concert mode, so most of my plans just say "Review for Concert".

Although, we did get taken to task at the last faculty meeting for not having our "objectives" up on the board. Apparently, we're supposed to have the focus for our class listed on the board, so we can refer to it as a "closer" for the lesson. Gee...that would work great if I didn't cover about 18 different things in my once a week 45 minute session. Plus, I don't think it helps children to "discover knowledge" when we tell them outright what we're covering that day.

So...now I'm sitting here watching it snow, and praying that we don't have a snow day because it will totally mess up my concert schedule. A two hour delay will be annoying, but we can work it out....ugh...Concerts and snow, a hideous combination!

[violet72]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 8:47am

Don't you hate when you have a snow day on a day you don't want to have a snow day. I direct the musical and the past 2 years we haven't had an opening night due to having a snow day. So this year we moved it from the end of Feb to the end of March, first week in April(so with my luck it will snow)

My students have been ok but we have had a select few that have been off the walls...they need their meds adjusted...in the 3 to 6th grade school we have had at least 1 to 2 fights a day since Monday...

On Monday the elementary schools watch the high school concert and Santa makes an appearence at the end of the show...so after that we become crowd control for the rest of the day


Good luck Wendy with your concerts

Updated On: 12/17/08 at 08:47 AM

[jasonf]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 9:56am

You know, I always wondered about the logic behind giving the objectives up front all of the time also. I mean, yes, sometimes it's fine, but there are times I don't WANT to clue the kids in just yet as to what we're doing - the element of surprise actually helps them learn and remember! I can be VERY broad like "Today we will read" or "today we will learn about persuasive techniques" but really, what purpose does that serve? The funny thing is, these things that we're supposed to do: objectives for each lesson, "closure", do nows, constant cooperative learning, differentiation -- I don't remember ANY of this stuff from when I was in school! The experience these kids have is SO different from what I had and it makes me wonder just what was so awful about the kind of education I had that there was such a shift in the eight years between being out of a public school setting and teaching again.

[violet72]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 10:29am

I know....we had cooperative learning groups once in a blue moon. But the teacher never stated objectives.....we never had differentiated lessons...you either did the assignment or got a zero. Sometimes I think it's good it has changed but then I think we are handicapping kids because we are spoon feeding them

[singingwendy]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 4:24pm

So...we did have a two hour delay today, which means no morning concert for the students, but we did have the afternoon concert for the parents. They did a nice job. And that's a good thing because the Superintendent decided to come to my concert this year. Yep...the year that we missed our "final dress rehearsal". But, I wrote him an email, and he said it was great, so that's a good thing.

Now, just one more time tomorrow morning for the rest of the school......

[george95]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 11:10pm

My high school is having a homeroom Christmas decorating contest so my classroom looks like Christmas exploded/threw up/gave birth. Tonight I made stockings with all my kids names on them (even though they're all 17-18 years old!) They still like that kind of stuff.

It seems like the only time my lesson plans REALLY matter were my first 2 years of teaching while I was studying for my master's. That's when they had to be handed in every Monday morning or the sky would fall, and they had to be detailed and in SSBAT format.
But these days............
The most annoying thing for teachers at my school is that we have to put them into the lesson plan feature on Gradequick, the gradebook program we use. Now gradequick is phenomenal as a gradebook. But the lesson plan feature is tedious and cumbersome. You cant just flip a page and look to see if the next week is a regular week so ur lesson can proceed as schedule, or look back a week to remind yourself where you left off. To do that kind of stuff requires so many keystrokes! Then the objective, activity, and homework are all in separate areas, and its impossible to see them all together, for not only the week , not only the day, but even the same period! That's why I still use an old-fashioned planbook (which my vice-principal secretly gets for me on the down-low)

I like that we are required to post the homework on the internet---this way parents and students can always see what it is. And our school has a problem with parents calling and complaing that their child has no homework--and since they're paying tuition they want their money's worth. The principal is always thankful that the teachers have the homework right on the internet, because they parents never want to believe their child is lying.

[george95]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 11:10pm

Updated On: 12/17/08 at 11:10 PM

[singingwendy]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 11:34pm

" That's why I still use an old-fashioned planbook (which my vice-principal secretly gets for me on the down-low) "


This made me laugh because I have my secret stash too! Seems like most of the regular classroom teachers do all their planning and grade keeping online. However, with 600 students to grade, I can't imagine entering them all into an online database! And I need the freedom to write down my lesson, then go back and make comments changes.

I also don't use my grade book the way most teachers do. I cross out the days of the week at the top of each column and write K-1-2-3-4-5. I write my plans for each day, and then make comments about each indidvidual class underneath. If I used the book the traditional way, I'd be writing out the same plans five days in a row! Of course, this time of year, we've missed so many individual classes due to days off, assemblies and other things, I can't wait to "wipe the slate clean" and start everybody back on the same lessons in January!

And good luck to your class in their decorating contest George! That's the kind of activity we don't find much in public schools anymore, unfortunately. Hope your kids enjoy their stockings!

[caitiesus1522]

Posted: 12/18/08 at 8:06am

"I also don't use my grade book the way most teachers do. I cross out the days of the week at the top of each column and write K-1-2-3-4-5."

That is how my mom has always done it since she used to teach special education and now does Title 1. She still uses the old fashioned gradebook too. I think it just looks easier than doing everything on the computer. Every single time she has to put grades into the system there is always at least one huge problem!

[violet72]

Posted: 12/18/08 at 8:24am

"I also don't use my grade book the way most teachers do. I cross out the days of the week at the top of each column and write K-1-2-3-4-5."
Wendy that is exactlty what I do. I gave the principal my lesson plans they way she wanted and she looked at me and saw 20 pgs and told me to go back and do it the way I usually do.

Good luck George

[jasonf]

Posted: 12/18/08 at 9:16am

Before this year I always kept another hard copy of my grades in a book. I changed to all digital for two reasons: 1)I have a laptop on my desk now (thanks Caitie!) so I can just input the stuff right in very easily (or if I'm home, just get online right away and input them), 2) the parents and kids can see the grades as soon as they're inputted and 3)I realized how much extra work I was doing by keeping the second set. We have to put our grades into the online program anyway, so what happened was I'd end up spending all that time transferring the grades from the book to the computer for progress reports and report cards that was basically just redundant work. Doing it once now saves me a LOT of useless time. Of course, I backup the grades every so often so that I don't lose everything if the server crashes...

[violet72]

Posted: 12/18/08 at 9:57am

servers crashing in a school.....never (said sarcastically)

[singingwendy]

Posted: 12/18/08 at 3:12pm

So glad to hear that I'm not the only one who's creative with their plan book! I think that so much of what your plans look like depend on what subject you're teaching. It would make no sense to me to write out plans for every single one of the 20 or so classes I see in a week. Just another issue with the "one size fits all" lesson plan form!

[violet72]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 9:15am

Woohoo we are hours away from Winter break!!!! I am gonna skip and sascha out of here at 12:45...can't wait

I went to the high school Christmas concert last night and I almost cried. The marching band was being honored before the concert by the Board of Education and City Council for winning Northern State Championships and they called me on stage, I teach the guard, and they gave me flowers and said some nice things about me...I almost lost it, but I managed to keep it together(I didn't want to cry in front of 500 people). It was very nice

Anyway Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year and enjoy the break

[george95]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 6:22pm

Congrats Violet....sounds like a terrific night.......and yes my homeroom won the Christmas decorating contest! It made teaching in there the last couple days before break difficult--all those streamers and paper snowflakes and stuff!

[singingwendy]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 9:50am

Congratulations Violet! It's always nice to see the teachers of the arts honored.

Congratulations George! What was the prize for winning the decorating contest?

Our last few days were crazy, with snow days and two hour delays affecting all the holiday scheduling. Yesterday, I taught my regular classes in the morning, and then spent the afternoon watching the same section of "The Polar Express" twice with two different classes.

I'm so glad to have this week and a half off! Enjoy everyone!

[violet72]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 10:40pm

Congrats George!!! Merry Christmas everyone!!!

[Madcap Maisie]

Posted: 12/26/08 at 9:28am

 

Updated On: 6/12/20 at 09:28 AM

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 7:12pm

Not so innocent 6 year olds...

Just two of the many "sex" stories for this first grade class....

This is paraphrased only because I don't remember the exact words.

"I went to my mom's room last night and she got a boyfriend. Her boyfriend wasn't in the bed with mom, it was some weird guy. His d*** was in her mouth."

"My dad told me I should f*ck you up the a** and c*m in your gina (vagina)."


What I knew in first grade and what these kids know now is very, very different. And quite frankly, disturbing.

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 9:42pm

I'm a teacher and I'm surprised I just found this thread! But it's nice to discover it.

SweetQ, you're right, it's amazing what they know at such a young age. I've heard so many things that still shock me even though I should be used to them by now from my students. I teach sixth grade and the other day a handful of condoms fell out of my (twelve year-old) student's pocket. And it didn't even surprise me. Which actually scares me.