I was surprised to see my supervisor again today. He was so pleased with the changes I have made that he tried me on the ultimate: I need to start looking at the textbook they bought for us seven or eight years ago. It is very basic and has a lot of vocabulary that newcomers need. So, I told him I... Sign in to see full entry.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
I permit students the freedom to learn...that is motivating!
I really despise eating crow! I hate admitting I was wrong, but I had admitting failure even worse. So, I have to admit that I was wrong and my supervisor was right. In just two weeks, I have basically revamped my entire day. To review, he visited me, observed half a dozen times across an entire... Sign in to see full entry.
Monday, November 28, 2005
They have to choose from all the letters and words they know how to make...
One advantage of sacrificing one's stern approach for a while -- you have political capital! I told my students today that after two weeks of music in the classroom (30min. homeroom only) that they now had three weeks to spend dong something very independent: silent reading! They were actually... Sign in to see full entry.
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Revisionist Explication of Leonard Cohen's: "First We Take Manhattan"......
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin. They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom For trying to change the system from within I’m coming out, I’m coming to reward them First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin. OK, we have to agree that this is a bitter poem. Whether it is a madman about... Sign in to see full entry.
Friday, November 25, 2005
With a guilty conscience headlong into the Texarkana rock'n'roll scene,1955
Well, in case no one else has seen "Walk the Line" I will give you a brief response to it. I couldn't do it justice this late at night, nor do I have a real insight into the life of Johnny Cash. I did meet him, sort of. I stood outside one of his concerts, Rupp Arena 1972. I handed him a tape I had... Sign in to see full entry.
Tribute to Spitfire. Good luck to you sister. May you find it there........
Sad to think that another of our brothers will be untimely, unfairly plucked from her surroundings and rearranged niminy-piminy in another part of the world. Sad that this challenge reflects our changing society, that the shifting sands of society hold for all of us such a volatile foundation for... Sign in to see full entry.
Thursday, November 24, 2005
I'm having an astonishing amount of fun with my new life! My children both are back and I'm cooking Kentucky Ham. I made green bean casserole and didn't have any cream of celery soup, owing to the fact that I put cream of celery soup in the scrambled eggs for breakfast. We were out of milk. So, my... Sign in to see full entry.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
My classes will be as ill-prepared for HS as the nation's 50% ESL dropouts.
My classes are certainly easier to teach these days. I have limited myself to two stations only. Newcomers vocabulary, using the great new Oxford Picture Dictionary for the Content Areas. The Early Intermediates are doing the initial literature book designed for intermediate level students. The... Sign in to see full entry.
Monday, November 21, 2005
Someone must be on a manic swing!..........................................
I am trying, as requested at work, to curb my enthusiasm. I had a plan to take a ham or turkey to school and serve some form of tradition up to my students, and I am so glad I decided against it. One of the gals has invited all the parents of her students to visit her class (and everyone elses) on... Sign in to see full entry.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
The last Romans saw barbarians sacking their city, had a lot to lose?
I have to comment on the state of our technology to date. Last week I took delivery of a new Gateway desktop. Not a frivolous purchase, I needed it. When I was about to lose all my blogs it became necessary in order to copy, save and print -- something I was not able to do at that time. To me the... Sign in to see full entry.