Grouchy Teacher is taking a short break in order to resolve technical issues. Recent upgrades have caused one or more of my plugins to misbehave, resulting in a blank screen. I’ve had to deactivate my plugins and I probably won’t have time for systematic problem-solving until later this week.
Keep checking back! I’ll have things working before the weekend!
Four years ago, I published in another online space my Top Ten Tips for New Teachers. I recently took a look at that list and decided it needed to be split into at least two: an ideological approach and a practical approach. So much of our job is centered on ideology that the temptation is often to focus on conditions of mind and spirit, the big-picture stuff and the smaller mindsets that contribute to the big-picture stuff.
But sixteen years in the classroom has taught me a lot of practical stuff, too, and the practical stuff on a day-to-day basis is probably more valuable—at least to the list-creator, if not the list-reader. Why did it take me years, for example, to figure out that when I photocopied the ridiculous number of forms I have to create every year, I could fill in on the master document the information that was always going to be the same, such as my classroom number and my name, then make my photocopies with a lot of my information already written? Since I hate administrative paperwork (seriously: it’s almost physically painful for me!), this has saved me a lot of agony over the years.
I’ll save that list for later this week. Today, I am happy to share my ten best bits of ideological advice for new teachers. Although this list has been forged by years of joy and sorrow, they are my own joy and sorrow. If you are a new teacher reading this, I think there’s something here for you, but you’ll earn your own top ten list before too long, so read it but feel free to call it a crock of bull, because your experiences will not be mine.
A get-together of Honolulu NaNoWriMo participants in 2008.
I sometimes say boastfully (but with false humility, of course, because I’m too cool to be ego-tripping) that I’ve been on Twitter since November 2006, but until recently, I’ve only used it for its (intended, I tell you!) social purposes. However, I can’t deny its value as a source for important info, particularly not in my field. In order to take advantage of this mine of educational gold, I created an education-specific Twitter account which is mostly an endless stream of links to stuff of educational interest.
What came down my stream last week was something I’d been completely ignorant of: a writing contest for high-school teachers. It’s the Norman Mailer Writing Award for High School Teachers:
Continue reading
I haven’t been an English teacher for a couple of years, but let’s be honest: I’ll always be an English teacher. When one of my juniors asked me last week for some poetry ideas, I gave her a couple of good prompts, and then said, “And don’t write poetry that sounds like it was written by a teenager.”
“How do I avoid that?” she asked.
“I happen to have a short list that will put you on the right track,” I said.
Here’s the list.
My friend Jen is going in for a mastectomy Thursday. In support of her, I’m only listening to music by the Hooters for the next 24 hours.
I swear this is not going to be an edtech blog. These first two posts just happen to be about something that’s been on my mind a lot. Don’t run away if you’re not into edtech!
Check out these numbers from a 2010 Pew Research study on teens’ use of cell phones:
Even though most schools treat cell phones as something to be contained and regulated, teens are nevertheless still texting frequently in class.
My iPhone. Yes, it's Susannah Hoffs from the Bangles.
The bold-faced, bulleted item in this list should give everyone at every school something to chew on. Even at schools with restrictive cell-phone policies, 58% of students with cell phones were still texting during class.
I quoted this number for my students in every class at the beginning of the past few semesters. I asked, “What does this number mean?”
Two years ago, a survey at Edutopia asked teachers whether or not they give personal telephone and email contact info to students. 26% of 479 respondents (of which I was one) said they give students personal phone numbers and emails. Another 33% said they give that info out on a limited basis.
For most of my career, I was a hardline avoider of personal contact with students outside the school setting. I’ve seen colleagues brought down by an unawareness of professional boundaries, or an unwillingness to maintain those boundaries. Like almost every responsible teacher I’ve known, I’ve guarded the teacher-student Mason-Dixon line with ferocity.