An archived stack of papers: March 2006
Nerd Life, Dawg
In a stack of papers called Instruction.
- Mar
- 11
- 2006
School district offices, financial black holes of education systems, foolishly track expenses.
Notice how that states my opinion about district offices? That sentence, dubbed “Behold! The Smack Talker!,” is an example of just one of the many sentence formulas shown to us in Marty Brandt’s “Indeed: How To Write ‘Nerd’” workshop, one of the three offerings... read more
Beyond The Test
In a stack of papers called Testing.
- Mar
- 10
- 2006
The public education system has a rather parochial view of things, at least in California. Think about it. Where are the people who are trying to create the next set of standards? English standards were released in 1998. As far as I know, there’s no date for revising those standards. Are their any people who are trying to improve standardized testing? Is anyone looking into ESEA (NCLB) version... read more
Bloglines, I Love You
In a stack of papers called Connections.
- Mar
- 09
- 2006
Finding ways to streamline the amount of work involved in life is a top priority for just about everyone. Teachers are no exception and my ongoing blog project takes up a lot of my streamlining time. With 120 blogs to scan through, 60 each week, I find myself unable to keep up with checking in on everyone.
I have grades on a paper, but I haven’t finished checking everyone’s blogs for... read more
On Switching Comment Style
In a stack of papers called Grading.
- Mar
- 08
- 2006
It’s amazing what the internet can do.
Last night, facing 60 papers to grade, I was about 3/4 of the way finished when I read a post over at Blog of Proximal Development. Thanks again to Cassandra for pointing that out to me. I’ve been to BPD before, but I haven’t been keeping up with my blog reading... read more
Your Beliefs And Who Said?
In a stack of papers called Connections.
- Mar
- 07
- 2006
After about 50 essays graded in the span of 4 hours, my mind is a bit shot. I’ve still got around 20 more essays to get through before I sleep tonight. But I want to point out a few Web sites to you. Oh! And if you’re interested in that Teacher Comment Database I mentioned yesterday, please do let me know and head on over to ... read more
Teacher Comment Database
In a stack of papers called Grading.
- Mar
- 06
- 2006
As teachers, we spend time pouring over student papers, making comments along the way that we hope will create better writers. Given the amount of time it takes to comment on papers, this makes grading stacks of essays even more of a burden than simply reading that many pages.
Databases: Just Great Big Lists Of Stuff
To take the sting out of grading written pieces, I suggest that we... read more
Some Fortunate Discoveries And A Sad Realization
In a stack of papers called Connections.
- Mar
- 05
- 2006
Unfortunately, I watched a bit of the Oscars tonight. Girlfriend, Oscars night, rabbit ears tuning in NBC a little too well, you do the math. Anyhow, I did happen to catch a commercial from MasterCard and there’s a way to use it in the classroom. I also flipped through this week’s Parade magazine, again due to the girlfriend, and found something cool there for school, too. So that... read more
Ideological Bubble
In a stack of papers called Connections.
- Mar
- 04
- 2006
Cold air always finds its way into your warm jacket, seeps into your pockets, and no pair of socks keeps out the freezing molecules. Anxiously waiting for the heater to live up to its name on my way to work on a Friday morning a few weeks ago, Steve Inskeep’s intonations chimed through the chill:
President... read more
Private Sector Education Efforts
In a stack of papers called Connections.
- Mar
- 03
- 2006
I’m excited about the chance to expose my students to documentaries and to teach about film. Young Minds Inspired (YMI) and the the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are making it easier to bring elements of film making into the classroom.
A... read more
Objectivity And The Art Of Grading Writing
In a stack of papers called Grading.
- Mar
- 02
- 2006
The chance to read another teacher’s papers presented itself with our schoolwide writing, which we completed back in the middle of January. I traded with the AP English Language teacher, so my opportunity to read writing from another class transformed into the opportunity to read writing produced by AP students. “This will be interesting,” my mind called out, staring at a few stacks of... read more