tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83434792011-04-21T23:20:22.623-04:00reflections of an ever-evolving educatorlit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.comBlogger401100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1151028007124475052006-06-22T22:00:00.000-04:002006-06-22T22:00:08.576-04:00

testing, part deuxhttp://teachteach.com/blog/2006/06/17/testing-part-deux-2/

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1125527618766177692005-08-31T18:33:00.000-04:002005-08-31T18:34:30.003-04:00

Just a note to say I'm relocating my blogging about education. My new Wordpress blog may be found at TeachTeach.com. A new blog to go with my new school and my new job (and to think some women would just buy a suit). Hope to see you there!

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1123798318912845212005-08-11T18:11:00.000-04:002005-08-11T18:11:58.950-04:00

As I've noted in the last few posts, I'm no longer in the classroom. My new position puts me in front of other teachers for the most part and there's one actually positive aspect about it that has been really bugging me these last few days (leave it to me to put a bad spin on something good):I have actually had a great couple of weeks in this new job. Teachers have been overwhelmingly warm,

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1123733675549386452005-08-11T00:14:00.000-04:002005-08-11T00:14:35.576-04:00

I'm beginning to get that anxious, overwhelmed feeling already and I've only been officially working in my new capacity for 8 days. Here's my to-do list for tomorrow:Meet with the guidance counselor to explain that the Teacher Led Collaboration process is just that--Teacher Led, regardless of what some parents might preferSchedule conferences with previously mentioned parentsSomehow schedule,

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1122257935047280472005-07-24T22:18:00.000-04:002005-07-24T22:18:55.076-04:00

I am starting a new job for the first time in 18 years. Although officially I don't begin until Aug. 1, truthfully I feel as though I started as soon as last school year ended.I am moving out of the classroom, something I never thought I'd do, and something I keep wondering if I will regret. The position is called Instructional Lead Teacher (a really unclear, almost nonsensical job title, if

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1121394340426244652005-07-14T21:35:00.000-04:002005-07-15T10:20:45.670-04:00

This post is specifically for my colleagues in the KMWP Tech Initiative (you know who you are!)Explore the many varied faces of blogs by visiting a few of these sites:http://www.educationwonk.blogspot.com/http://budtheteacher.comhttp://www.weblogg-ed.comhttp://www.teach42.comhttp://wildwilliam.blogspot.com/http://anne.teachesme.com/http://hipteacher.typepad.com/schoolblog/To see my classroom blog

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1112816172336115872005-04-06T15:36:00.000-04:002005-04-06T15:36:12.336-04:00

Am I the only teacher who finds herself spending at least 2 hours each day of spring break grading?I can almost see the light--it's dim, and obscured by the clouds, but there's a glow around their fluffy edges.

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1112797231547638492005-04-06T10:20:00.000-04:002005-04-06T10:20:31.546-04:00

Like Teach42 and budtheteacher, I find myself getting really excited about technology in the classroom these days. Our school board is considering a massive shift, and our local community is greeting it with great consternation, to say the least. Through special options tax funds earmarked for educational technology, our school board is considering the purchase of laptops for every high

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1112452889932822742005-04-02T09:41:00.000-05:002005-04-02T09:41:29.933-05:00

I had such a good time with my freshmen Wednesday. I spent some time Monday night putting together a Jeopardy review game for The Odyssey (SO much more fun than grading the essays that are threatening to grow mold at this point). I downloaded a great template from a site which also included a very helpful planning sheet. The kids loved it. They got so competitive and goofy, and I laughed more

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1111936524664554542005-03-27T10:15:00.000-05:002005-03-27T10:15:24.666-05:00

I lost my planning everyday this week to graduation testing. Only a teacher could appreciate how this impacts a work week. Apparently it is completely beyond the understanding of the guidance counselor who organized the testing and the administrator who supervised it. To top it off, I was coming off a couple of weeks of yearbook overload. I have completely neglected my other classes, my

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1110644688589311052005-03-12T11:24:00.000-05:002005-03-12T11:24:48.590-05:00

Once again, I spent the morning in an in-service, this time one on curriculum mapping. The presenter was funny and engaging, and the concept of curriculum mapping seems like a really good one and a direction that education should definitely be heading in.However...I can't help getting more than a little bit annoyed with the current trend in teacher in-services. What I'm seeing is this tendency

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1110123568800147512005-03-06T10:39:00.000-05:002005-03-06T10:39:28.800-05:00

During our in-service on Friday, the presenter brought up differentiation and the general consensus that it is necessary/impossible in our classrooms. She suggested that instead of focusing on differentiating curriculum, we differentiate assessment instead. She gave the example of a student she had once taught, one with an 80 IQ, who had great difficulty reading and writing. However, he had an

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1109979709060809802005-03-04T18:08:00.000-05:002005-03-04T18:41:49.063-05:00

Today we had an in-service for half the day, and then returned to teach our classes. We spent three hours listening to the high school language arts supervisor from the county office go over the new, improved performance standards. These are basically the same performance standards we have always used, but with a new acronym and longer sentences (they keep bragging about how there are fewer

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1109772755046792812005-03-02T09:12:00.000-05:002005-03-02T09:12:35.046-05:00

One thing I really hate about this job is that you can't just be sick. Period. Instead, you have to plan to be sick, and prepare for some other unqualified person to do your job for however long you are sick. On top of it all, the unqualified stand-in doesn't really do your job while you're sick, because when you return you have the responsibility of scoring all the assignments you planned and

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1109636174849605312005-02-28T19:16:00.000-05:002005-02-28T19:16:14.850-05:00

Each day, I teach the same class three times. I teach the same material, pretty much the same way each time. So why is it that one class, the one in the middle, is so much more enjoyable to me than either the first or the last?I've tried to analyze the situation using logic. There are, however, many variables. For instance, in my first class, only about four of the students have been with me

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1109520874407059342005-02-27T11:14:00.000-05:002005-03-01T09:43:38.650-05:00

We've got some major technological opportunities simmering in my school district, potentially wonderful opportunities, and all the majority of citizens want to do is gripe and spout elitist, stereotypically prejudiced speculation about the doomed nature of the project.In a nutshell:The county is proposing to lease laptops for every teacher and student in middle and high school, and to install a

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1109204811542544532005-02-23T19:26:00.000-05:002005-02-23T19:26:51.543-05:00

It's that time of year again, the time when I find myself on the verge of tears all day, the time when I wonder how any human is supposed to cope with all that's being demanded of me, the time when I think of summer and it seems 5 years instead of a mere 3 months away.I keep asking myself why I'm still sponsoring yearbook. It's been a long time since I really enjoyed it. Probably not since 2000

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1108598638925098922005-02-16T19:03:00.000-05:002005-02-16T19:03:58.926-05:00

Check out my new blog just for writers--The Writing Room. This one will boast a new writing prompt daily (almost). Prompts should be appropriate for just about anyone--from teen writer to fledgling author to frustrated, blocked blogger. Please post comments, suggestions--I'd love to make this a source of inspiration for other writers out there.

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1108588144658256932005-02-16T15:57:00.000-05:002005-02-16T18:41:35.840-05:00

I have this student who troubles me. Actually, he's been troubling me since the school year began, but lately, it seems to be getting worse. Much worse.You see, he's a bit of a geek. No, a lot of a geek. It's painful to watch sometimes, his social ineptitude. I was a bit of a geek myself in high school, but I was a rank amateur compared to this kid. As if the transition to high school isn't

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1108395207378549952005-02-14T10:21:00.000-05:002005-02-15T06:10:25.696-05:00

It's Monday and I'm already overwhelmed. We had our "deadline party" Friday night, which lasted until 9 PM. The good news is that a good number of kids stayed and got some work done. The bad is that most of the work was old stuff that should have been done weeks if not months ago, so we didn't really get much accomplished on this deadline. At some point, I have to bear down and push through all

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1108152676430247892005-02-11T15:05:00.000-05:002005-02-11T15:11:16.433-05:00

I'm amazed to announce that I've been nominated for Teacher of the Year! I'm pretty sure I won't win, but still--I feel like one of those people who gushes "it's an honor just to be nominated." Ironically, my best friend at school was also nominated, along with 8 other teachers. It's so nice to even be in the running though. After 18 years of feeling pretty well ignored, it's a real lift to think

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1107557941268030752005-02-04T17:30:00.000-05:002005-02-04T17:59:01.266-05:00

I have entered a new ring Dante never had the misfortune to discover. Today began beautifully, a continuation of the previous afternoon when I was unable to boot the hard drive that contains ALL of the files necessary for producing our yearbook. Yes, I know we should have a backup. The problem is, the damn drive has been crashing every time we try to do one. So, this morning, I come in full

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1107392131642772702005-02-02T19:55:00.000-05:002005-02-02T19:55:31.643-05:00

We had Open House last week. It was generally painless--as one teacher observed, "like a cocktail party, without the cocktails." Okay, maybe not so painless. Here's the funny thing: I had this kid last semester, Slacker-boy, whose father decided he (the father) would take my course via email correspondence with me. It got to the point that the dad was emailing me 2-3 times A DAY, asking for

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1107357179355691552005-02-02T10:12:00.000-05:002005-02-02T10:12:59.356-05:00

Why do I feel so guilty lately? Okay, my mom's been really sick, and I have missed several days as a result, but I've managed to stay caught up, haven't I? (except for Yearbook, and we won't even go there) So recently I've had to come in late a couple of mornings, and I didn't do the morally correct thing and claim those hours against my short term leave. That doesn't make me a bad person, or

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1106614069068486062005-01-24T19:23:00.000-05:002005-01-24T19:47:49.066-05:00

I've been so swamped that I neglected to write about my Friday morning last week. I need to write about it because I really need to remember it. Always. Friday morning, one of my colleagues (and a friend as well) called in sick. No sub was immediately available to cover her first period class, so, naturally, I stepped in, being the only one available with first period planning. No biggie,

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1106253039549652732005-01-20T15:25:00.000-05:002005-01-20T15:30:39.550-05:00

My kids are amazing and they deserve a far better teacher than I have been lately. We have been mired in the down and dirty world of grammar (yuck and double-yuck). Today we started participles. I explained. They nodded. They took notes. They completed exercises. We checked them. Yawn. The amazing part? No one slept, no one whined or complained, and everyone stayed on task in spite of

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1106168446621688272005-01-19T15:17:00.000-05:002005-01-19T16:06:19.390-05:00

I'm learning all sorts of new things about kids and technology through my work with blogs and my students this semester. I started small by creating a separate class blog for each of my class periods and simply requiring students to comment occasionally on certain posts. We haven't been able to move past that point yet and I'm fast discovering all sorts of new things in the process. Perhaps the

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1105646791531788582005-01-13T15:06:00.000-05:002005-01-13T15:06:31.530-05:00

Today I took my ninth graders into the writing lab to use some really cool software that teaches them how to diagram sentences. Most had never done that before, which is amazing to me. I remember diagramming every sentence I wrote in 5th grade (and believe me, Mrs. Prater had us writing a lot of them). I think it's a great way to connect the abstract concepts of grammar to something concrete

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1104959312782627002005-01-05T16:08:00.000-05:002005-01-05T16:08:32.783-05:00

So far, I've been pretty remiss in keeping up this blog. Between the self-censorship issue and my mom's health, blogging has taken a backseat in the past couple of months. However, it's a new year, a new semester, and I'm determined to do better. I'm very excited about what's going on in my classes right now. I've created a class blog and today I took my little freshmen into the Writing Lab to

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1104965864697700392004-12-11T16:11:00.000-05:002005-01-05T17:59:39.993-05:00

I can't believe I just spent the last 5 hours writing my final exam. What's REALLY sad about that is that I didn't even WRITE most of it--I simply tweaked questions that came with our textbook materials. Out of 120 questions, I might have authored about 25. Most of the time was spent rearranging, formatting, double-checking for accuracy--I'm just so glad it's finally done. It's almost over--

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1101932557025689702004-12-01T15:14:00.000-05:002004-12-01T15:37:08.636-05:00

End of a pretty unproductive day. About the only laudable thing I accomplished was truly forgetting about lunch duty, so I managed to miss at least half of it. Yeah me! Today was one of those interminable "early release day." The name is such a *$#@&%~! lie, because never, NEVER do they release us, the teachers, early. No, what we do on these great days is see all of our classes, albeit for

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1101764407356529752004-11-29T16:28:00.000-05:002004-11-29T16:40:07.356-05:00

Back at work, and I have to say, not too happy about it. I've so enjoyed the last few days at home--I totally got out of the habit of work and back into the habit of pleasure, namely reading and writing. I read two wonderful novels and spent quite a bit of time reading blogs and writing for my own personal one. It was so lovely to not feel the pressure of work, though I probably should have. I

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1101236166005639172004-11-23T13:50:00.000-05:002004-11-23T13:56:06.006-05:00

I've been silent here for quite some time. Ever since one of our teachers was arrested, I've vanished from the blogger scene. I had written a couple of posts detailing the idiocy that is educational bureacracy, but I took them off out of fear. Fear that I would suffer repercussions at work, that some overzealous reporter would find them, that I would end up paying a BIG price by exercising my

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1097335041721897002004-10-09T10:57:00.000-04:002004-10-09T11:32:53.220-04:00

The good: I feel like I'm doing a really good job with my ninth graders, although it's driving me a little bit batty. I realized as I was defining literary analysis for them Thursday, that I've never had to define it before--incredible considering I've been teaching 18 years now. But most of that time was spent teaching upperclassmen who were familiar with the term. I do think, however, that

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1097107517677792552004-10-06T20:01:00.000-04:002004-10-06T20:05:17.680-04:00

Wow, this last week has been overwhelming. I kept meaning to write here, but I've been so busy. I've been staying so late at work as yearbook gets increasingly intense and behind, I feel like my name ought to be on most of the pages so far. Plus, the work is piling in from my ninth graders and I'm hitting that wall where I don't have time to grade because I'm too busy with yearbook. Yesterday

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1096468821268540722004-09-29T10:20:00.000-04:002004-09-29T17:10:48.800-04:00

My planning is almost over and the day will jump into full swing. I have lunch duty today and am just finishing monitoring a standardized test during my planning. Add to that a full teaching day, with me teaching bell to bell, back to back lessons for the remainder of the day and you can share in my joy. I'm starting the kids on an autobiographical, reflective essay today. I think I've planned

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1096327070091089952004-09-27T19:10:00.000-04:002004-09-27T19:18:26.893-04:00

Trying to be a good teacher here, but as you can see, I'm blogging instead of generating a lesson plan or grading. Hmmm...what's wrong with this picture? So I'll justify my offtask behavior by calling it "reflection on my teaching practice." Today I said something I really shouldn't have said, but it did get a laugh. We were reviewing adjectives and adverbs and I was quizzing the kids about

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1096237339765292032004-09-26T18:21:00.000-04:002004-09-26T18:23:32.583-04:00

The assembly Friday was, surprisingly, really interesting. The presenter was a self-taught, self-proclaimed expert on medieval history, literature and swordplay. Of course, the part the kids were the most interested in was the swordplay, and, I have to admit, I found it pretty fascinating myself (which was a bit disconcerting). He began by detailing the similarities between Tolkien's Lord of

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1095978819004769302004-09-23T19:43:00.000-04:002004-09-23T19:43:48.566-04:00

I've been almost completely absent from my classroom this week. Last Friday school was cancelled due to Hurricane Ivan, and the last two days I've been in a vertical teaming in-service. Tomorrow the kids will be attending an assembly. So much for instruction. I've been grading the interview essays and I'm finding a new dilemma--they're too good. I mean, no way in hell did these kids write

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343479.post-1095372575226007582004-09-16T18:09:00.000-04:002004-09-16T18:10:04.530-04:00

I can't believe it. I just wrote this very detailed entry only to have it lost somewhere in cyberspace. So here I go again. Maybe the second draft will be even better--yeah, right. So I'm skipping the intro this time (sorry, blame blogger) and cutting right to the chase. After MANY years of teaching seniors, I now find myself teaching ninth graders for the first time. There are pluses and

lit loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05655721435559160806noreply@blogger.com0