Teaching Generation Tech

Who are you and why are you here?

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:23:05 -0500

A long time ago, just after being awarded a teaching position but before beginning it, I started to look at teenagers - I mean really look at them. And they positively freaked me out. They came in all varieties -...

I'd like to teach the world...

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:08:51 -0500

I normally don't ask my readers to do anything for me. This is mostly because it's pretty much my mom and dad and the occasional passerby, forcing me to reconcile that I don't actually have readers. I'm not even convinced...

Tapping Possibility

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:58:57 -0500

If there was one idea that I would like to leave with my students it is to open themselves up to possibility. At the broadest level I would like to think that is the true point to education. You never...

This isn't adios...

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:31:29 -0500

In Spain one rarely hears "Good-bye". They prefer to bid everyone a casual "See you later", even if you're in a big city full of strangers. It's one of my favorite things about their warm, welcoming culture. After seven years,...

Rubric, Rubric on the wall

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:40:56 -0500

Who's the FOUR-est of them all? I entered this virtual world project a little late in the development process so I was left to look at a finished prototype and figure out where to fit left over pieces, so to...

What I do

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:21:29 -0500

I love to ask people what they do for a living. They inevitably give me their job title, but that doesn’t really tell me what they do. I’ve been teaching for the last seven years, so I didn’t really need...

First Day

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:23:47 -0500

I wish someone could have captured a before and after photo of me today. So much like my first day of school decades ago, I left well-pressed and anxious and returned well-worn and exhausted. Not a bad thing, though. I...

Survivor

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:54:33 -0500

I’m going to spend a month on this project in Spain, so I have an apartment in Oviedo rather than staying at a hotel. There is no front desk to phone every time I need something, and because I’m in...

Flat and fast

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 03:17:16 -0500

I hope you have read Thomas Freidman’s “The World is Flat”. If not, I am tempted to assign it for homework. Otherwise it might be a little confusing how an American, a Brazilian, and a Spaniard are sitting in an...

What I did over summer vacation

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 04:52:42 -0500

Well, it’s that time of year again. That magical back-to-school time that feels more like a new year than January 1st. I’ve been absent from my blog for quite a while, but have much to share about what I did...

A learning experience, revisited

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:18:40 -0500

As a little girl, spending time with my father was second to nothing – not even giant scoops of chocolate-laced ice cream or permission to stay up late with my three older sisters. This was the man who would take...

www-dot-fun

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:42:36 -0500

You may have picked up on the fact that I have no life. I spend my summers thinking about teaching. But, to be fair, I spend my school year thinking about summer. I am spending a lot of time this...

It's the lesson plan, stupid.

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:39:51 -0500

A few months into my first year of teaching I had asked the assistant principal for help with a discipline problem. He scheduled a time to come into my classroom and when he arrived, I wrongfully assumed he was there...

Take out the textbook, please.

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:08:29 -0500

Like so many first-year teachers, I was handed a textbook in order to begin teaching in September – at that was it. It was understood that seventh graders would learn chapters 1-6 and eighth graders 7-12. My ninth graders would...

Box-arrow-box

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:30:06 -0500

How did anyone ever learn anything without a graphic organizer? Teachers love graphic organizers and tout them as a "research-based practice". I'm not buying it. But then again, I didn't go to Teacher School (but please don't tell anyone, it...