As I finish my blog...
I'm sad.
I had a wonderful semester.
I learned I can't procrastinate as much as I would like....
I've learned that friends will get mad because you decide to spend the night with your textbook and hot cocoa rather than a night with them at the local watering hole, and that is okay.
I've learned that sometimes the best teaching/learning experiences are the ones that you are active participants in.
I've learned that no matter what you try to do to avoid it, bad things happen.
People die, car accidents happen, and there's nothing you can do to avoid them, but you can only learn from them and move on.
I can't wait to student teach.
I'm going home.
They say home is where the heart is.
I think I've left a piece of my heart at Troy.
I would love to teach there someday, but if this is the closest opportunity I get, then so be it.
Thank you for a wonderful semester, Pete.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Taking Criticism Constructively...
November 27, 2007.
I'm very annoyed after tonight's class. Why is it impossible for classmates to take criticism constructively? Co-workers apply here for that matter as well.
I try and offer a comment that is helpful, and get evil looks rather than a "I never thought of that."
YES, your idea is great, however it is not the ONLY way to approach the situation.
There are OTHER ways of looking @ the situation.
You may not have the ONLY fresh-fun-inventive way of teaching or staging a classroom.
Perhaps what works in a Christian Reform School may not work in an urban, secular high school. Has anyone ever thought of that?
As my dear friend says, education is not a one size fits all t-shirt that would only fit Paris Hilton....
I feel as though this blog is turning into a rant, but come on.
Rather then bitch and moan at me and give me dirty looks, just accept the fact that I may have another way of looking at this situation and am not "shooting down" your idea.
Perhaps I think your idea is actually a good one, but just know it wouldn't work in MY classroom because I have a pretty good rapport and understanding of the 17 year old brain.
When I was 17 years old, I sure as heck wouldn't be concentrating on Social Studies, I'd be staring at the cute Football player next to me!
I'm very annoyed after tonight's class. Why is it impossible for classmates to take criticism constructively? Co-workers apply here for that matter as well.
I try and offer a comment that is helpful, and get evil looks rather than a "I never thought of that."
YES, your idea is great, however it is not the ONLY way to approach the situation.
There are OTHER ways of looking @ the situation.
You may not have the ONLY fresh-fun-inventive way of teaching or staging a classroom.
Perhaps what works in a Christian Reform School may not work in an urban, secular high school. Has anyone ever thought of that?
As my dear friend says, education is not a one size fits all t-shirt that would only fit Paris Hilton....
I feel as though this blog is turning into a rant, but come on.
Rather then bitch and moan at me and give me dirty looks, just accept the fact that I may have another way of looking at this situation and am not "shooting down" your idea.
Perhaps I think your idea is actually a good one, but just know it wouldn't work in MY classroom because I have a pretty good rapport and understanding of the 17 year old brain.
When I was 17 years old, I sure as heck wouldn't be concentrating on Social Studies, I'd be staring at the cute Football player next to me!
Pictures can tell a lot...
When you look at this image, what do you see?
What are the people in this image feeling?
What year do you think this photo was captured?
How do you think these people were feeling when this picture was taken?
Using pictures like these in teaching can capture emotion and an inquisitive nature in your students that ordinary lecture would not.
The picture of the young boy saluting is a toddler John F. Kennedy Jr.
What students will see is a cute little boy saluting an assassinated president, killed too early, and we will never know why. Hopefully this photo will open up a debate.
The second photo is normally entitled "Kissing the War Goodbye"
It is a wonderful picture of a woman kissing her husband as he returns to her after World War II.
I think it captures the relief that men were returning, alive, from a vicious war across the globe.
Pictures like these are gripping. They also make students think.
Listening to what Paley says
Thanksgiving Break...
Cutting my hair was amazing!
I am so glad to have a few days off from class & work.
I was able to take a few days off from work this week and enjoy some time off.
As we give THANKS this week, there are many things to be appreciative of.
I am so appreciative of loving, supportive parents that have wired the house with wireless internet and never complain that I don't do dishes because I'm reading and or doing work.
I'm thankful for good friends.
I'm thankful for understanding, flexible professors.
I'm thankful for having a love of social studies
I'm thankful for my family, my health, and my life.
Cutting my hair was amazing!
I am so glad to have a few days off from class & work.
I was able to take a few days off from work this week and enjoy some time off.
As we give THANKS this week, there are many things to be appreciative of.
I am so appreciative of loving, supportive parents that have wired the house with wireless internet and never complain that I don't do dishes because I'm reading and or doing work.
I'm thankful for good friends.
I'm thankful for understanding, flexible professors.
I'm thankful for having a love of social studies
I'm thankful for my family, my health, and my life.
Music in the Classroom?
November 21st...
So tonight we spent time speaking about the different uses of music in the classroom.
For me, there are tons, especially as a history teacher.
I swear that I did so well on the Global Studies and American History Regents because of "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel. As cheesy as that sounds, it captures almost every single decade!
Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnny Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe
Rosenbergs, H Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, The King And I, and The Catcher In The Rye
Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen
Maciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dancron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, Rock Around the Clock
Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland
Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, Bridge On The River Kwai
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkwether, Homicide, Children of Thalidomide
Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Hemingway, Eichman, Stranger in a Strange Land
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion
Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan
Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless Vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
With lyrics like that, it pretty much reminds you of what has gone one over the past 60 years in the U.S.!
If you were to give that to a classroom and ask them to analyze that, what fun that would be! How could you not love to be given one of those terms and then need to google one and look it up and find the definition, etc... I really like using music in my classroom and look forward to doing so as soon as I student teach!
So tonight we spent time speaking about the different uses of music in the classroom.
For me, there are tons, especially as a history teacher.
I swear that I did so well on the Global Studies and American History Regents because of "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel. As cheesy as that sounds, it captures almost every single decade!
Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnny Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe
Rosenbergs, H Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, The King And I, and The Catcher In The Rye
Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen
Maciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dancron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, Rock Around the Clock
Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland
Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, Bridge On The River Kwai
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkwether, Homicide, Children of Thalidomide
Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Hemingway, Eichman, Stranger in a Strange Land
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion
Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan
Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless Vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
With lyrics like that, it pretty much reminds you of what has gone one over the past 60 years in the U.S.!
If you were to give that to a classroom and ask them to analyze that, what fun that would be! How could you not love to be given one of those terms and then need to google one and look it up and find the definition, etc... I really like using music in my classroom and look forward to doing so as soon as I student teach!
Ruby Bridges
11/13
So in class we read a book called The Ruby Bridges Story by Toni Morrison.
I AM using this in my classroom, regardless of what grade level I am teaching. I could be teaching seventh, either, or eleventh grade history, but I will be using this wonderful short book by Toni Morrison. This is a fabulous, short, clear, and concise book that shows students how powerful one little girl's will can be in a town where so many have preconceived notions. I admire Ruby, as she continued to walk to school everyday through a group of people that disliked her simply because of the color of her skin. What a brave, mature, courageous child.
I think this book could also help students of other ethnicities in the classroom. I feel that after September 11th and the War on Terror, Islamic students are sometimes targeted by their peers and often picked on because they are a scapegoat. "Oh, blame the foreign student" is what I have heard peers say when I was a senior in high school (September 11th occurred my Junior year of H.S.)
Not only will Ruby Bridges' story be a great way to launch into the Civil Rights Movement and integration in the classroom, but it may make my students of other ethnicities more comfortable in my classroom and let them know that I welcome their differences!
So in class we read a book called The Ruby Bridges Story by Toni Morrison.
I AM using this in my classroom, regardless of what grade level I am teaching. I could be teaching seventh, either, or eleventh grade history, but I will be using this wonderful short book by Toni Morrison. This is a fabulous, short, clear, and concise book that shows students how powerful one little girl's will can be in a town where so many have preconceived notions. I admire Ruby, as she continued to walk to school everyday through a group of people that disliked her simply because of the color of her skin. What a brave, mature, courageous child.
I think this book could also help students of other ethnicities in the classroom. I feel that after September 11th and the War on Terror, Islamic students are sometimes targeted by their peers and often picked on because they are a scapegoat. "Oh, blame the foreign student" is what I have heard peers say when I was a senior in high school (September 11th occurred my Junior year of H.S.)
Not only will Ruby Bridges' story be a great way to launch into the Civil Rights Movement and integration in the classroom, but it may make my students of other ethnicities more comfortable in my classroom and let them know that I welcome their differences!
Body Bios?
In our class on November 6th, we did some Body Biographing for Educating Esme`.
This was a great activity that I can see myself using with historical figures in the future.
While it was fun to do this activity with the heroine of our story, Esme`, I think it would be even more amusing to see my students do this activity with a historical character such a Hitler, Mussolini, or even FDR.
People's perceptions of these figures will be extremely interesting to view.
I think it will be an entertaining activity to see students draw Hitler as this short, small man (more than likely) with a small, narrow brain and mind, Mussolini as a fat, small man with a small, narrow mind, and as FDR and other whimsical Americans (Teddy Roosevelt, JFK, etc) as these larger than life, wonderful men and women that have done so much for the United States while these opponents (and within good reason, Hitler and Mussolini were horrible people) will be drawn as horrible, scary, small minded men.
I think this is an important activity to do and it also presents the opportunity to our students to actively participate and engage with their peers, share ideas, and move freely around the classroom (using that bodily-kinesthetic intelligence we've learned about in 578!)
This was a great activity that I can see myself using with historical figures in the future.
While it was fun to do this activity with the heroine of our story, Esme`, I think it would be even more amusing to see my students do this activity with a historical character such a Hitler, Mussolini, or even FDR.
People's perceptions of these figures will be extremely interesting to view.
I think it will be an entertaining activity to see students draw Hitler as this short, small man (more than likely) with a small, narrow brain and mind, Mussolini as a fat, small man with a small, narrow mind, and as FDR and other whimsical Americans (Teddy Roosevelt, JFK, etc) as these larger than life, wonderful men and women that have done so much for the United States while these opponents (and within good reason, Hitler and Mussolini were horrible people) will be drawn as horrible, scary, small minded men.
I think this is an important activity to do and it also presents the opportunity to our students to actively participate and engage with their peers, share ideas, and move freely around the classroom (using that bodily-kinesthetic intelligence we've learned about in 578!)
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