C4T Summary

Comments For Teachers

C4T#2

Classroom Hack: Creating Postcards Using Student Work


POST:
Here is a quick way to let your students show off their artwork and get in a quick lesson on writing postcards. The picture above is a postcard I made in class from picture a student drew to go along with a media history assignment. I took the pictures and printed them onto card stock and cut them out. Then I had them write a postcard explaining the assignment and had them mailed. Soon the parents will get a surprise in the mail!


You can do the same thing with pictures of the students as well. Why not take a picture of the science experiment they are doing, the activity they are doing in their PE class, or them working on a computer? There is something special about receiving handwritten mail and it is even more special when it is from someone you love!


Please note: If you are using a laser printer you need it to heat up before running card stock in it. I print 25-30 blank pages first before I run the card stock through so it heats up enough that the toner sticks to the paper.
Posted by Wm Chamberlain at 7:23 AM
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Kayla (Perkins) Beck said...


TEACHER POST SUMMARY #1:
The kids were asked to make a post card and the back of the post card the student wrote what the assignment was about. The card was then mailed to the students’ parents. The parents received in the mail something their children created as artwork for school and also a lesson on the purpose of the project.
MY RESPONSE #1:
This is a great idea! I will definitely keep it in mind to use for my future class. This is also a good way to keep the parents informed, and possibly strike the parents' interest to get more involved with their kids' school work. This seems like a project that will be good for many different age ranges also.
September 21, 2010 8:43 AM
POST


I Got Your PD Right Here!




I am receiving the best professional development I have ever experienced at school. I am "team teaching" a math class.


Math is definitely not my strength. I got through by following patterns. I am very good at identifying them. I am not good at being able to understand the "why" of math. Does it make you wonder why I was placed in a math class to team teach?


So, I find myself sitting in a class that I do not feel comfortable in. Not only am I unfamiliar with the objectives (even after reading/studying them over the summer) but with the vocabulary used. Students are expecting me to be able to help them identify why they don't "get" something. How can this be great professional development for me if I am not comfortable?


I have become a student again. I am learning the math concepts and definitions with the students. I ask more clarifying questions than they do. I am remembering my student roots, learning in a classroom.


The first full week I taught the math lessons. I wanted to pull my own weight and show that I could do the job. After teaching a lesson my teaching partner broke the lesson down for me and we talked about what I could have done to make it better. For some veteran teachers this would be a problem, but not for me. I know I am in over my head and I am grateful to have an experienced teacher help me out.


Although the team teaching has been difficult and we have not yet found our comfort zone with the shared responsibilities I would still say this has been successful for me. I am learning math and how to be a better teacher.
Posted by Wm Chamberlain at 2:35 PM
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Kayla (Perkins) Beck said...
TEACHER POST SUMMARY #1:
In this post he wrote about how he is now a math teacher although it is not his strong point. He goes on to say that the teacher he is tag-teaming with is very helpful. He is also learning this over with the children, although he is one of the teachers. He goes on to say how it is very uncomfortable teaching a subject that is not his best.


MY POST RESPONSE #1:
I have heard something like this said, "A great teacher is one who is always learning." I guess now you got a great chance to learn again! That is very helpful that there is another teacher in the class with you that is also a great help. As teachers, we will never be great at everything no matter how hard we try. This is why teaching is a team job, and it is not about one teacher being better than another at certain subjects. It is about helping one another reach what our best is as a person, even if we are not the "best" at everything. If we were the best at everything, where would our individualism in teaching be?
October 4, 2010 7:33 AM


POST:
Monday, October 25, 2010
Should I Punish Students for Bad Behavior in Another Class?
My school has in-school suspension for students that behave inappropriately. I am not sure if it is because of not doing homework or because of what they have said or done. As the "computer" teacher I have never given any work for those students to complete, not much of a punishment if I let them use a computer in my opinion.


Today a teacher asked me if I ever sent any work for the student to do. When I replied I didn't she implied the student was "getting off" from doing the work in my class. My reply was that it would be hard for them to do the work in ISS when we are using the computers. I could figure out some make-work for them to do, but our administration is just as capable of that as me.


Thinking back over the exchange I have a different response. I really don't think I should punish a student by giving him/her make-work for improper behavior in someone else's class. What do you think?
MY RESPONSE #2:
I agree because even if they misbehave for someone else, does not mean that they do not have more respect for you. As teachers, I truly believe that if we respect our kids long enough, they will learn that respecting us is the best choice. And making them do punishment work for another class is not your job. It is the job of that teacher to handle it in his/her class, not in yours.
November 1, 2010 8:06 AM

C4T#4

Ryan Bretag: Metanoi
Post #1:
I Stayed
On November 7, 2010, in Thought(ful)( less) Meandering, by ryanbretag
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There are moments in your life that you know are once in a lifetime. The path you choose during this moment no doubt defines you in ways both known and unknown. Two months ago, an unsolicited phone call while driving down the expressway presented one of those moments.


As I’ve said before, I never wanted to be an educator but I became one with the hopes of changing lives and the educational system. The last ten years I’m not sure I’ve lived up to what I envisioned – I’m tired, frustrated, failing, and falling further behind. It is why this phone call was so enticing. It allowed me to say good-bye to public education and enter the for-profit arena with opportunities to impact school districts throughout the nation was so appealing.
My wife said go. My family said go. My friends said go. I even said go.
Despite this, I chose my path and stayed. I stayed because my heart is tied to the faces of learners, to the possibilities of public education, and to the changes we’ve yet to make. I couldn’t envision not being in a school on a daily basis. I couldn’t envision working from the outside.
And, to be honest, I stayed because something became really clear… I want to lead a school community – something I was vehemently against in much the same way I was with becoming an educator in the first place.
I surely don’t know what this decision means on many levels, but I know I’ll continue to have the chance to change lives and education from within… exactly where my heart and soul lies.
Thank you to all that mentored me through this process especially you, Brian.
MY RESPONSE:
1. Kayla says:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
November 15, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Hello, I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class in Alabama. Although it was a hard decision to make, it very well might be the right one. As a future educator, your response to the question of whether to go or not was encouraging to me. I truly believe that educating will be difficult, but I am in this for the same reasons you are-to change lives…..and to change lives we must!
POST #2:
Once a “Cheater”, Always a “Cheater”
On November 27, 2010, in Leading, Teaching, Thought(ful)( less) Meandering, by ryanbretag
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In the wee morning hours, you’ll find them sitting there huddled around a table or crouched around a tight spot on the floor. There they sit “sharing” their homework.
Yep, some call it sharing. Some call it comparing. Others call it helping. Many call it studying. Most educators would call it cheating.
This scene repeats itself at lunch and in the hallways during passing periods where it is often the sharing of what took place in earlier classes, what was on the quiz or test, and what was or wasn’t collected.


Maybe we should ban their ability to connect? Maybe we should ban their ability to socialize? Maybe we should ban their ability to talk? Maybe we should ban notebooks, paper assignments, and brains that store this information that can easily be transferred to other students?
Why do we barely bat an eye at this, yet we quickly jump to all the “cheating” that will take place if we allow mobile learning devices? Why do we support the banning of mobile learning devices to protect the sanctity of “your” classroom, yet the realities of what could take place with these devices is already happening in analog means?
Maybe we should ban bad assignments and poor assessments, and reallocate class time for collaboration, inquiry, project-based learning, and innovation. Maybe we should ban learning in isolation and keep in mind that today’s cheating is tomorrow’s collaboration.
Technology hasn’t created these problems. It has simply brought to light things that have always been there. It has simply brought these discussions back to the forefront of our thinking. Stop thinking it is a technology problem, get to the root of the problem, and utilize the knowledge we have about what it means to be a good educator.
MY RESPONSE #2:
Kayla says:
November 29, 2010 at 11:43 am
I definitely agree that educators along with parents have seen technological devices in classrooms as a cheating source, but fail to realize how much cheating is already happening without them (many times because “cheating” has so many wishy-washy definitions). Learning is wonderful, but what about offering new ways to learn by using our brains for real and not simply trying to memorize things from a book. I truly believe that the classroom should be more project and collaboratively driven because it seems that this is how we learn the best. Learn by doing, not by memorizing. Maybe if we do this, it will be tough to even want to “cheat” or find a way of doing it because we are learning out of the box.