Nothing for a While

I haven't done anything for a while so I thought I would post a quick link. Some of you will have seen this on Facebook already. It's a really easy battery you can make with vinegar, washers and pennies.
Here is the link.
cheers

The Bacon Song

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10200641517138660

100th Day of School

I thought it might be appropriate to post something on my 100th day of teaching. It's been a stressful year so far but I think that is normal for a first year as a teacher. Its a lot of work, but here are the benefits.
I'm in my vehicle for 30 mins a day during the week as opposed to 3 hours.
I spend 0 nights a week away from home as opposed to 1 or 2.
I am getting paid to write lesson plans and study curriculum as opposed to paying to do it.
I am getting real word experience in the education as opposed to theoretical jargon.
I have a job as opposed to worrying about whether I'm going to get one.
cheers

Zone of Proximal Development

I struggle with Zone of Proximal Development. When do I need to help a student and when should I let them struggle. I feel like they come to me for answers rather than help. One of the questions I hate the most is, "Mr. Kehler is this right?". I'd like them to take a risk and not necessarily worry about if they got it perfect right then. I keep trying to teach them that we learn by mistakes and I don't want to be holding their hands through all their work. They get frustrated because they think I'm not doing my job and I get frustrated because they I feel like they want me to justify all their answers. So I got back to my question. When is my helping helping and when is it robbing a student of the opportunity to work through a questions and learn from struggling. It's one of the things that causes friction in the classroom. Ugh, Teaching is so hard. And no I didn't think it would be easy!
cheers

What I Learned Trhough Report Cards

Here is what I have learned through writing the new provincial report cards.
1. Teachers whine almost as much as students do. (Myself included)
2. I think I have a better idea of assessment and what and how much to assess.
3. All 4's are not created equal.
4. Three's aren't either.
5. The words demonstrate and encourage can be overused.
6. Twenty years from now these will be in storage boxes in someones basement. (like my grade 8 report card)
cheers

Fun Day in Drama

Had a serendipitous drama class on Friday. So it was lunch time and I decided to do music mime during drama. We had it for the last two periods of the day. So just before lunch ended I was madly buying some classical music off of iTunes. I'm always a little worried about doing drama during art because my students aren't yet convinced that drama is art. Well the first period of art we don't get the gym so we pushed all the desks to the side. I then played the first minute of the sorcerers apprentice from fantasia and has them quietly consider the pictures that came to their mind during the piece. I then played it again but this time let them talk quietly to each other. They were then given time plan what they were going to do. We then broke for recess. After recess they went to the gym and finalized their presentations. What they did was fabulous. I was so proud of them. I I'd like to plan out my classes a little better but that class went really well.
Cheers

Things I Wish I'd Done/Known/Been Taught

I think it's sort of been a tough first month and a half. There are times when I feel like I know what I'm doing and times when I don't. I get frustrated with my class sometimes. Sometimes I'm not sure if it is because they are doing something unfamiliar, I haven't explained something properly or it's just a really crappy plan. Or maybe it's a combination of the three.
I'm going to go through some wishes/regrets I now have. Some or most I likely should have known/done. Some things you're going to look at and say, "well duh." And some things you may say, "He makes a good point."
So here we go.
1. I wish I was More Specific with my Unit Planning.
This seems really really really really obious. I don't know why I was so stupid. I think one of my issues is long term planning. I like working night before/spur of the moment. I think that's one of the reasons I liked radio so much. Yeah there is some planning but there is a lot of spur of the moment. You can't get away with that as much in teaching. Part of the what I think makes me a good teacher is my ability to roll with what is given me. But the ball needs to be rolling before you can roll with it. (See what I did there?) I think once I had decided which units go where then I should have broken down each unit and developed work for each. (That seems obvious now too)
2. I wish I was More Specific with my Assessment Planning.
This seems really really really obvious. I feel like I'm behind on this.
3. I wish we had been given More Practical Work in University.
I am taking a lot of blame but a lot of work that we did was theory in nature and not practical. What first year teachers need is practical first and theory later. The math curriculum is designed to work from the concrete to the theoretical. The curriculum says understanding is better developed that way. Why then do we inundate student teachers with theory and then push them into practical situations. Student Teachers would be much better served by observing and teaching for the whole year than by sitting in a classroom at University.
4. I wish I had been taught how to teach how to organize a binder.
I can barely organize my own life without having to teach organization. Though it would really come in handy now.
5. I wish I had more self-discipline.
I am horrible. I get on my students cases about getting down to work and yet at home I get so easily distracted. Maybe this should help me understand my students more.
thanks for listening.
cheers