JK Rowling fantasizes in literature, creating a world where sex is OK..... Tonight I finished recording the last few chapters of Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets. My students will be able to read the entire book. That may wind up being my best contribution to them for the year. My friend at school... Sign in to see full entry.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Thursday, November 9, 2006
Blogger mothers a sick child back to health................................ I actually had two excellent adventures today. If you were here and read about the little girl with oppositional-defiance and the father who was demanding immediate development of social language skills? Well, I kept telling... Sign in to see full entry.
Monday, November 6, 2006
They do not wish to be singled out, yelled at or lectured to............... Last night was "open house" night at the middle school. We hosted as many parents and families as could get free, and it was a blazing success. My helper, the bilingual Yuri, had the room sparkling. She had spent the day... Sign in to see full entry.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
This blogger never gives up!............................................... Academic review, in the midst of a headlong rush toward literacy fluency is mandatory. The life of an uprooted and transplanted organism is troubled at best. They experience three levels of culture shock. How this affects... Sign in to see full entry.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Yesterday we started with a demonstration of revision. I think it was actually editing. I had found several short essays written by intermediate ESL students -- from a few years back. This is the beauty of having a computer, a district server and an LCD projector. We noticed right away that the... Sign in to see full entry.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
The Miracle of Mr. Kingmi's Classroom: there was no curriculum...... I remember my last three years in the most inner-city school in Des Moines. I had been there for fifteen years and had earned the respect of every minority group, including families. I was offered the post of English as a Second... Sign in to see full entry.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
HOW TO TURN BLOGGER ENEMIES INTO BLOGGER FRIENDS
Two years ago now, I was called to the principal's office for a good chewing out. A lady had complained that I had called her children "dogs". Dogs is a particularly offensive reference to Latino people. I won't even get into the psychoanalyticals of that. Suffice it to say that my administrator was... Sign in to see full entry.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
The Blogger Pendulum Has Swung Back -- Or Has It? (Classroom)
When I was twenty-three, I spent my first summer as a teacher taking education methods classes. One afternoon I was in a used bookstore looking for something I could read that might be a little different from the humanistic methods that had been taught, that I had learned thoroughly. I picked up a... Sign in to see full entry.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Cooperative Bloggers Learn More
Especially with at-risk children, cooperative learning techniques provide a second chance to succeed. What we call a do-over happens when students who have always failed, expect to fail or for whom the educational system has failed to be effective, now are students who have a second chance at... Sign in to see full entry.
Wednesday, June 7, 2006
These Bloggers Used Up 825 Notebooks This Year!
Every August when school supplies go on sale, I always buy as many 70-count notebooks as possible. Usually they are about a dime apiece. Last year I bought 700 and ran short in January. The year before I only bought 500 and had to scrimp from December on. This year I tried to buy a thousand, only... Sign in to see full entry.