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?

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Field Trip #3

Hello everyone. Tomorrow is Field trip #3 for my students and we will be going to a Maximum security prison. Normally, this field trip would come at the end of the unit when my students are more familiar with inmate culture, prison slang, prison designs and chain of command. I pray that this will work out well in spite of. You know.."putting the horse before the cart". Looking back, it seems like I've done a lot of "bass ackwards" things this semester and for that my game has been thrown off alot. I don't know if it is because of my exposure to NTI and my desire to do everything exactly by the books or my missing the field and what it had to offer. I am most grateful for my NTI experience and I have said on many occasions that a lot of what is being taught..I did some of it even before I knew what it was. I thought I was just being creative and "non-traditional". My problem has always been knowing how to close out a lesson and move on to the next. Now before anyone takes this post the wrong way, I am not discounting anyone or anything taught..I'm just saying "I'm all over the place" and can't seem to get back on track. It's as if I'm in an inner battle between doing what I know and doing what I know should be done. While some of the approaches work well, others do not. I think this is mainly because of the population that I work with. I could easily join the bandwagon and say what everyone wants to hear or just be honest and say what I experience. My question is when will I be able to conceptualize the "big picture"? There was a time when I loved teaching, now it seems like a chore. Is it suppose to be this way? Will it stay this way forever? While I am forever in search of a silver lining, I have so many questions along the way that are not being addressed. Hopefully the answers will come soon. I will keep everything I have crossed and hope for the best.
On another note, tomorrow is one of my student's birthday and he is going to prison (well half of the class is for the field trip)...I know right. That is the running joke in class and the punchline is ..let this be your first and last birthday spent in prison. The kids are having fun with it. I just might get him a prison birthday cake from the vending machine...a snickers bar in between 2 honeybuns...yum yum..good prison food..zoom zooms and wham whams (prison slang for cookies and pies). Have a great week and talk to you all on tomorrow provided I'm let out of prison on time. LOL!

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