Like Krazy

"When will I ever need this?" To a teacher, it's like a slap in the face. But not the refreshing wake up call kind. The kind that can be interpreted as "What you have committed your life to and have a passion for seems totally meaningless." The word "seems" is my interpretation, on purpose, because they really mean "is totally meaningless" but I refuse to take it that way. I have used many responses in the past but since this is a family blog I will not repeat them here. I teach at an all male high school so what I have used recently has developed from their possible interest in sports. It begins with a question (don't most interesting things?): Do you play a sport? "Yes. I play ______." (If they say no, I ask if they play an instrument and change the questioning accordingly) Excellent! Are you preparing for a game soon? "Yes. We are getting ready to play _______." Oh my, they are pretty good. Have anything spec...

Unfortunately, I have been hearing a lot of negative conversation about Khan Academy recently. It does not seem right to put down someone who has done so much to help others in an extremely proficient way. There are so many great uses for what he (and others) have created. If not at the center of a flipped classroom model, the videos can be used as reference by students who may not have completely understood a topic initially. In this example, Khan becomes the classic textbook example on steroids. My daughter occasionally watched a Khan video this past year to help her with a calculus topic. It must have been useful because she recommended the site to friends. One of the tasks of students (and teachers) in the near future will be to keep track of the virtual teachers who may provide them the best outside help. It would be great to have a site similar to Netflix for learning, with suggestions and recommendations based on your "favorite" virtual teachers. Along with teachers,...

It occurred to me the other day that my 20 years of teaching has led to 20 summers of to do lists, big plans, and usually stress as the days ticked away and the list did not get much smaller. That experience has given me a little insight and I have made some changes to my approach to the summer. The problem the first several years (16 or so!?) was that I just planned a little too big - organize the house, figure out a method to avoid large stacks of essays to grade, raise the Titanic, etc. The chance of getting any of these items complete during the summer was the same, zero. There were MANY items like this on my list and I was always frustrated by the time the school year rolled around again because I was still behind on my tasks! I heard a saying years ago that went something like - if you expect nothing, you have all things. Now that is a mantra I can head into summer with! Unfortunately (and quite reasonably), my wife did not quite get as excited about that quote as I did. I nee...

"So, what's the answer?" Cringe. The question came from a student the other day after a long discussion about the reason a character was so enraged. I was tempted to say that the character had been discussing an important topic with others and one of them had not been paying attention and so he was enraged.  But I have been told that sarcasm does not work with boys. Dang. It's a fair question, sometimes. It's not easy to follow a discussion with many students providing input and insight. After a while they figure out who has something to say that has a high percentage of being insightful.             For others, the class dialogue may drag on and after several minutes they zone out. Once they "come back" they are ready to move on. They want the Spark Notes version (or Reader's Digest or Cliff Notes, depending on your generation). photo © 2007 Kenneth Lu | more info (via: Wylio ) It’s not like it is the first time anyone h...

I came across a site for presenters entitled Interactive Lectures that contains summaries of 36 formats for making a presentation interactive. Certainly my job as a teacher is part presenter and I found many ideas to work with in my own classroom. I decided to put my notes here as I examine some of these formats and how I may use them. Please use the comment section to add your ideas and allow this to grow. Format #1: Best Summary Each participant prepares a summary of the main points at the end of a presentation. Teams of participants switch their summaries and select the best summary from each set. This reminds me of an "Exit Slip," which is a good way to check student understanding before they leave the room. The summary could be done in many formats (and may even be done several times during a class session). - working in groups or individually, put summary on index card. If in groups, have them read each out loud. If individuals, collect and read a few out loud. - techn...