“Profane and prophetic verses about sex, death, revolution and America by the great icon of Beat poetry.” This is the attract blurb on the back of Penguin Modern 02 – Television Was a Baby Crawling Toward that Deathchamber. I had never heard of Allen Ginsberg before finding the book. I had no idea what toContinue reading “Wine and Cheese Punk Rock”
Category Archives: books
What Will You Do?
A tenet from Positive Discipline that has stuck with me is the advice to “Decide what you are going to do.” In the context of misbehavior, this means we should focus on how we will act and less on what we will make our children do. Like most aphorisms, this should be adapted toContinue reading “What Will You Do?”
Some wisdom from Alfred Adler
Any sort of behavior changes should have some sort of scientific, moral, or ethical support. If not, people are just doing things to do thing and chaos ensues. Positive Discipline uses the second chapter to introduce some of the basic concepts that will help readers understand the practical applications. These concepts allow us to reflectContinue reading “Some wisdom from Alfred Adler”
Chapter 15 – Future technology in my classroom
The one technology that could be used effectively in my classroom right now is an adaptive learning software linked to the previously mentioned CommonLit. Each text on CommonLit comes with five to six assessment questions all aligned to the appropriate Common Core reading standards. Currently, I can see how students perform on each question soContinue reading “Chapter 15 – Future technology in my classroom”
Chapter 11: Our school’s lack of a coding program.
As mentioned in question 7, access to technology and devices is extremely limited at our school due to local education regulations. As a result our school does not offer any sort of coding or computer program. My previous school, also under similar regulations, did offer AP Computer Science as an elective for grade 12 students.Continue reading “Chapter 11: Our school’s lack of a coding program.”
Chapter 7: Roadblocks to implementation of technology
The roadblock at our school is the local education authorities. In many ways our area is quite conservative and technology is no different. Students of all ages are not allowed to have phones on campus. Only students in grades 11 and 12 may have a laptop on campus with their parents’ permission. As a result,Continue reading “Chapter 7: Roadblocks to implementation of technology”
Chapter 6: Moving away from the “Campfire” method of teaching with technology
David Thornburg described The Campfire (one-to-many), Watering Hole (many-to-many), and Cave (one-to-one) methods of teaching (Couch & Towne, 2018). These methods align closely with the Think-Pair-Share method most teachers should be aware of by now. One way I have promoted Think-Pair-Share with my students is with the CommonLit website, http://www.commonit.org. CommonLit is a large collectionContinue reading “Chapter 6: Moving away from the “Campfire” method of teaching with technology”
Chapter 5: “Personal definition” of learning
I define learning as “combining pieces of knowledge to create something new.” I want my students to analyze and reply to the work of others. I have been teaching English as a Second Language for ten years which makes the “create something new” aspect of learning easy. The entire purpose of all second language curriculaContinue reading “Chapter 5: “Personal definition” of learning”
The Usual Santas – Mick Herron
Eight mall Santas walk into a buffet. It sounds like the set-up to a joke and it isn’t too far off. The Usual Santas by Mick Herron is a funny short story about the Christmas Eve adventure of eight mall Santas who have sat down for dinner to exchange holiday stories from the mall. IContinue reading “The Usual Santas – Mick Herron”
Chapter 4 – Helping students persevere
There is a scene from the HBO show The Wire that took ninety seconds showing how to help students persevere. In the scene, students in math class are rolling dice and “gambling” with Monopoly money. A student, Randy, makes a bet loses. The teacher comes by and asks why Randy made such a bad bet.Continue reading “Chapter 4 – Helping students persevere”
The Keasy Depot 