Vol. II, #3   © Educators Advocacy Group

 

              

November, 2011

Teachers, Speak Up!

 CCSD Mandates Posting Lesson Plans!

The latest half-witted flash in the pseudo-intellectual pan that is the CCSD school system is a county mandate for teachers to write and post in our classrooms daily lesson plans complete with objectives, standards, types of assessments, material usage, etc. next to where we were asked to enlarge, laminate, and post our state’s standards. And before I openly mock this attempt to weigh hard working and creative teachers down with more busy work designed to cover someone else’s ass, I feel compelled to say that I am not opposed to lesson plans or standards in any way whatsoever.
     I am fully aware of the state standards- I keep a copy in my desk (top drawer, next to my red pens). I consult them rarely, because I find that much (if not all) of what I do in my classroom far exceeds the expectations inherent in those standards. Furthermore, I write lesson plans for every class I teach and I carefully articulate the learning objectives to my students. But I do this in a way that makes sense to ME, the highly educated professional hired to ensure that my students emerge each day from my class inspired to learn, and THEM, the hard-working students who show up every day, clutching their novels or their textbooks, eager to learn something.
     What I object to is the imposition .... Continue

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Did You Hear About This?

A new national study on the effectiveness of networks that operate charter schools finds overall that their middle school students’ test scores in reading, mathematics, science, and social studies aren’t significantly better than those of students in regular public schools.

The average results varied widely: Students in some charter networks managed three years of growth in two years; in others, students tested a year behind grade level after a year or two in the program.

The findings from the research group Mathematica and the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington Bothell underscore the point that being run by a charter-management organization, or CMO, isn’t a predictor of an individual school’s or student’s success, and that CMOs cannot be lumped together as being effective or ineffective. Previous studies have shown the same about individual charters....  To read more click on the link below:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/11/04/
11charter.h31.html?tkn=YLMF9gyIO56NS6I1ZF
NanEQQOfAUIWLxHUPk&cmp=clp-edweek

This Teacher does Common things Uncommonly Well  

TRAVERSE CITY, MI -- A special assembly at Traverse City West High School marked the school's significant strides in online education and the use of technology, but there was a huge surprise for everyone when a TC West teacher won a national award.

Juleen Jenkins-Whall was awarded the Milken Award, given to only one teacher in each state for excellence in teaching and worth $25,000.

Jenkins-Whall, a 10th grade science and math teacher, was honored the award by State Superintendent Michael Flanagan.

"Incredibly humbled, and it's, I get to work in one of the best buildings in the state, with the best people, and I'm just one small little part of a lot of really good things, really," said Jenkins-Whall.

Jenkins-Whall was rushed and congratulated by current and former students after the assembly.

She's been a teacher at Traverse City West since 2000
Quoted from: http://www.upnorthlive.com/news/story.aspx?id
=679687#.TrbJ2PQUqso
 To share exploits of an especially effective teacher
Click here

You too can light “The Refining Fire”  

Build Relationships with Students

This is the advice from a teacher who found that building relationships was the key to his success in dealing with classroom discipline. (Click on the link below to read more about his methods).
"If you don't want to let the kids into your life, you're in the wrong business. Students want to feel respected and you can show this to your students by opening up about your own interests and life. It's a fine line to walk between being friendly with students and being friends with students. Don't tell them secrets (unless they are the kind of secrets you deliberately share to build trust) and don't tell students the sort of gripes you should be telling other adults. Remember, even if high school students think they are adults - they aren't.

Building a relationship with students can be as easy as asking their opinion on what to get your daughter for Christmas before you start going over the homework. After all, the kids know what's cool. Or asking about a movie you just saw that the kids would know a lot about. Feigning ignorance when it comes to items the kids know a lot about lets them be smarter than you for a moment and that builds a huge amount of trust and respect. Teenagers love to school the teacher"

http://www.squidoo.com/teaching-with-
effective-high-school-discipline


To submit a description of how you solved a disciplinary  problem  Click here.

To Your Health

Lose Weight and Like It

 

Eating Tactics:

  • Cut the slice of bread and butter in two and eat half

  • Substitute sherbet for ice cream

  • Put salsa instead sour cream on that baked potato

  • Cut that slice of pie in half

  • Drink sugar-free drinks

  • Eat a fresh apple rather than a baked apple for dessert

  • Use a no-calorie spray instead of fat for frying

  • Serve your meals on small dishes

  • Never eat standing up

  • Never eat in the same room with the TV

  • Never eat unless you can brush your teeth when finished

  • Chew each bite ten times

  • Never eat without washing your hands first

Activity Ideas:

  • Level walking, about 4 miles per hour

  • Swimming in warm, placid water

  • Moderate ice- or roller-skating

  • Lawn-mowing, self-propelled.

  • Fishing, standing and casting

  • Aerobic dancing 

  • Leisure canoeing

  • Playing tennis

Remember these facts:

  1. There is no magic bullet, no easy street to a slender figure.

  2. A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. When we tuck away more than we can burn, it gets stowed as fat.

  3. Fat goes into free-fall when we exercise a little more than customary and eat just a little less.

  4.  There are hundreds of get-thin-scams out there. Reject them, out of hand.

(Raymond O. West, M.D., Signs of the Times, Oct. 2004)

 

Learning Made Easier

Do you have a story about how you solved a challenging learning difficulty for your students? 

To share how you facilitate learning in your classroom Click here.

 

FREE STUFF

Free travel tours for Students and Teachers:
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ppcgoogsststudent?mkwid=sSDrr35rO&pcrid=
5472602723&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=
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Book Feature

When selecting a novel for your class to read, the tried and true titles often come to mind: "Catcher in the Rye", "The Wave", "To Kill a Mocking Bird", "The Great Gatsby", and so on. Many modern titles are available but they do not provide the literary quality supported by an interesting plot. Often, students cannot relate to the experiences described. Here is a novel written by a classroom teacher that has a white-knuckle plot, strong literary merits, and a setting and characters with whom your students will find common ground.

To read more, click here

 

Here is a Video of Teachers 
discussing our book feature.

 

School Humor 

 It is our American habit if we find the foundations of our educational structure unsatisfactory to add another story or wing ~ Albert Einstein

Formal education will make you a living. Self education will make you a fortune ~ Jim Rohn

Share something funny. Click here.

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