Rules For Posting To This Blog and Weekly Blog Question

1. Only use your first name (no last names, addresses, IM screen names, etc.)
2. Show respect and consideration of others when posting and commenting. This includes individuals, students, organizations, political parties, colleagues, etc.
3. Check all posts for spelling and grammar errors before posting.
4. Protect the privacy of others. Gain permission from other people before you write about them. Avoid sharing someone else's last name. Use job titles or pseudonyms when writing about experiences with your co-workers or students.
5. Watch your language. Use politically correct and non-offensive language.
6. Make sure you write about things that are factual.
7. Keep your postings education-oriented. Avoid discussing plans for the weekend, etc.

FINAL BLOG POST - OUR "DAILY TRIPLE" (DUE 12/1).
This week I would like you to use your imagination. You have just won the lottery and will leave your teaching post immediately to travel around the world. As you leave your keys you meet your replacement. You are asked to give this new teacher just ONE piece of advice. What would that be, and why? Enjoy your world expedition!

Blog Post - Week 7
This past week in my own teaching I felt a little disconnected which prompts my question to you, "What was the moment (or moments) when I felt most disconnected or disengaged as a teacher - the moment(s) I said to myself, I'm just going through the motions here?"

Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 6
For the past couple of weeks you have experienced asynchronous online learning (doing modules by yourself). Previously this semester you have experienced synchronous online learning (all together in the Collaborate room). Which do you think is more effective and why do you think that? Which do you like better, and why?

Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 5
This week we have what we call "open mic." You can write a post about anything related to your teaching that you would like responses from your classmates.

Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 4
Here is this week's question: "What was the event that most took me surprise this week - and event that shook me up, caught me off guard, gave me a jolt, or made me unexpectedly happy?"

Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 3
Please write a post about the following question, "In thinking about my past week teaching what is one thing I would do differently, and why?"

Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 2
Please write a post about the following question, " In thinking about my teaching activities this past week, of what do I feel most proud? Why?"

Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 1
Describe something you used in your program in the first weeks of school that you learned in the summer NTI program. How did it work? Did it get you off to a stronger start than last year?

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Ba humbug!

I have a particular challenge with my second period. We are on a block schedule so we are in our class for 1.5 hours. On my second block is when we have lunch, and unfortunately, lunch cuts into the middle of this period. It is not an issue getting the kids focused at the beginning of class, but after lunch it’s a different matter. Currently our bells don’t work, as it was damaged by a thunderstorm. Because we have no bell, my students will roll in at different times and the last ones to come in from lunch are the ones that tend to be most disruptive. What ever conversation they were having at lunch, it spills over to the classroom, especially if it is full of drama. It may take me between 10-15 minutes to get everyone to refocus on any task.

This second period class is the class that I have the ring leaders of behavioral issues. You know how you have 1 student where they do just enough mischief and to you it doesn’t seem enough to refer them to any kind of worthy discipline, I have 5 of those kids in the 2nd period. Three of these kids have an IEP, and I can honestly say that only 1 requires it and the other 2 are using it as an excuse. Talk to me my fellow teachers! What can I do, what can I do?

1 comment:

andrea strommen said...

Well, I don't know what exactly you teach, but I have one class where three days a week lunch is in the middle. I started noticing that my class was coming back from lunch really "chatty" and not wanting to do work. Something that I've done recently, is tell them before they go to lunch what they will be doing after lunch. Whether it is an assignment/review/powerpoint, I let them know some is going to be due. Another thing I started doing was introducing my lab with a short review, then they go to lunch, and when they come back the students know there is a car in the shop ready for them to work on. They actually started almost running back to my class a few times. I think the "hands-on" after lunch helps the most. But, I don't give them the "hands-on" before lunch because that is the intruduction or review part. Something else I started was going up to the lunch room, and all of my automotive students sit together. I sit with them and chat for a few minutes, then I go back. We sit and talk about car shows, racing events, which show is coming up this weekend, etc. Now, their "chatting" time about cars got used up in lunch instead of my class! I don't know if you have the same situation as I do, but my period over lunch are my advanced students and they love automotive.
I have another really talkative class, with several ESEP students. I suppose if you can't do some type of lab after lunch, maybe have a "silent" assignment. On a day I'm really worn out, I write on my whiteboard "silent assignment" due in 30 minutes. The students either assume I'm sick, in a bad mood, or I have a headache. I take role silently, and I don't say a word to them, but just motion for them to sit and be quiet, or I nod. It never failed though. I would literally get 20 minutes of silence, and they would complete their assignment! Make it a competition. Some of my really bad behavioral problem students I started telling them "It's not your turn to talk right now". or "I know you have something to say, but it's really not your time right now. Let me finish then I'll let you talk" I got those line from a mom of one of my other students last year. It worked great for me. I've noticed that if I talk really quietly to a student that is disrupting my class it goes a lot further than to tell him over the whole class. Good Luck.