The Cool Teacher

I’ve been so impatient lately, I could bite some students’ heads off. Our secretary keeps reminding me that the Thanksgiving Break is almost here. Well, it’s here now. I have a feeling that when I go back I am still going to be impatient, though.

I miss teaching. Managing behavior and teaching are NOT the same thing. Unless you think of it as “teaching behavior.” I’m ready to teach World Geography again. Or Government. Something besides social skills, which is what it is presently amounting to.

Today, one of the kids was outside throwing a huge fit. He had just been suspended, and he was refusing to leave campus. He was showing just how bad he could be. He threatened a teacher, yelled out gang stuff and generally would not stop going off. He was enjoying his audience, so he wasn’t listening to a word that I said. So I grabbed his bike, and said, “Come on.” He did. That’s all it took. He followed the bike, and left campus.

The thing that sucks is that the people in the office who had called the cops were mad that he had left before the cops arrived. Oh well. Too bad. It took them twenty minutes. Who knows what would have happened??

Today, one of my students appeared to be writing notes to the girl sitting next to him. I asked for his paper, and sure enough, there were World Geography notes, there in the margins. “See,” he said, “I’m just taking notes. You always think I’m doing something bad.” Yeah, but who takes notes in the margins of their paper in teeny tiny handwriting? I smell a set-up for “the teacher always picks me”.

When I was getting my teaching degree, one of my professors had us make a library of images to use as writing prompts. Sadly, I no longer know what has became of those pictures. One thing that has changed since those days, though, is the availability of really quality photos. No longer do you have to search through National Geographics in search of something that is not an insect. Flickr is wonderful, of course, but it’s even better when other people find the good stuff for you. Here’s a collection of 56 photos that make inspiration easy, whether it’s for you or for the kids you teach.

Since I teach grades 9-12 in an alternative school, I have students who are on every possible step on the staircase of learning. I teach math, science, English and social studies to special ed students. I teach English and social studies to everyone. I teach gifted and talented. I usually have about three mentally retarded students who end up in my room every year as well. Those kiddos are the most challenging to find resources for. Well, it was a problem until I found www.edhelper.com. A fellow teacher in my program had it, and she showed it to me. I subscribed–a year is $40–and it solved the problem of individualizing work. Now I just look up a subject and a level, find a lesson and hit the print button. Don’t tell them, but I would pay much more. Gone are the days of buying zillions of activity books just because I saw a couple of cool things in them. I can find pretty much everything I need right on EdHelper.

Of course, if I were teaching a regular class in a regular classroom, it would be a supplementary material. But as it is, this is just perfect.

I think some of us are taking this stuff seriously. I mean, we’re clicking, aren’t we?

1. Meanies. They do it to get attention, and sometimes, more blog traffic. In this case, with 1285 comments and a number one ranking in Google for “Disgusting Bloggers”, I guess they got it.

2. That you can lose weight by blogging about it. This guy didn’t. By the way, if you are squeamish, don’t click. At any rate, you are not going to lose weight whilst sitting around playing on the Internet. If that guy had had a blog, he probably would have gained an extra 100 kilos. Reggie, the black kid with good credit, let me know that my treadmill invention already exists. The thing I found fascinating about that article, though, is that people burn about 100 calories per hour just moving around doing whatever. Anything but sitting. I need the computer treadmill NOW!! Especially since I like looking at this lovely site, authored by a Penthouse editor.

3. That anything having to do with PHP is easy. Unless you have two brains.

4. People who blog about the placement of Google Ads when they only have five readers.

5. People who write about happiness and success when they are miserable, miserable individuals. I’m sorry, but I just don’t have the heart to link. Then I would be a meanie.

6. Ugly comments. Waiter Rant is one of my all-time favorite blogs. The ugly comments have been going on for years now. Meanwhile, he’s selling ads on his site and publishing a book. Guess who’s making money off all that snark?

7. That productivity articles will help you to actually be more productive. I tend to read them while sipping a latte before heading out to the pool with a magazine. I do love Lifehack, though. What is it about that site?

8. That surveys will help you earn money online.

9. That you can get rich quick online. Perhaps the reason why Mr. Thomas is now writing ten buck articles for a keyword site is because he snorted all of the profits from his yacht and real estate trading up his Pinocchio-lookin’ nose? (Don’t take that seriously…I’m being a meanie.)

10. Anything that politicians say. But you already knew that.

There is so much information about education that it can be completely overwhelming at times. One goal of this blog is to compile things that will be useful to myself and others.

Of course, what teacher writes a blog about education without sharing experiences? Since I work in an alternative school, there are always plenty of stories to tell.

The one thing I’ll try my hardest not to do? Complain. We have enough of that. Complaining without change just keeps us walking around in the same old circles.