... I believe that laughter is the best medicine, best friends are god's greatest gift, and everything happens for a reason.
Excerpt from the “We are Wall Street” flyer going around:
“For years teachers and other unionized labor have had us fooled. We were too busy working to notice. Do you really think that we are incapable of teaching 3rd graders and doing landscaping? We’re going to take your cushy jobs with tenure and 4 months off a year and whine just like you that we are so-o-o-o underpaid for building the youth of America.”
I. Can’t. Even.
Judy Gelles photographed an interesting series comparing the home lives, dreams, and fears of sixteen children.
The anonymity of the students keeps the focus on their hopes and fears, which become universal. The project includes fourth graders from an inner-city school in the US, a private Quaker school in the US, a school for children of migrant workers in China, and an English speaking school in India. Fourth grade is a turning point for children, a place where the pathways of their lives are shaped. One can learn about a culture by tapping into the mind of a 9 year old child.
This is my favorite. It reminds me of a couple of my fourth grade girls from last fall. Also, something about a nine-year-old saying, “I don’t wish for anything. I like my life the way it is,” feels really powerful.
I would love to do something like this with my 4th graders.
(via ArtMind: How to make a scratch off lottery ticket?) via missbhavens
this would be great to implement into a classroom (if all “gambling” connotations could be removed).. i love it!
Such a cute questionnaire I found while searching for good personal inventories for an interview I am giving a student tomorrow for a class project. Besides perhaps the religion portion, the answers can be really insightful and the kids will have fun doing it!
Typical Classroom
The stoners in the back like:
The class clowns are like:
Girls on their period are like:
The bestfriends are like:
That one dude who is ready to fight at all times is like:
The teacher’s pet is front in center like:
That one person who is always texting is like:
Nobody is learning so the teacher like:
hahahahahahaha
Steven Zimmer
The very fact that this man is a Goucher grad makes me very, very excited for what I can be capable of.
Disconcerting thing of the day:
Rude rude people vandalized the hall I live on. One of their antics was to write a different profanity on everybody’s whiteboards. The campus safety officers came through and erased all of the explicits, except for three:
“RETARD”
“retard savage”
“retard savages”
Last time I checked, those terms can have as, or more of, a debilitating effect as any. Come on, world. Inform yourselves.
yayayayayayay
@paperpackages
the power of a promise
To me, a first grader saying “I promise” holds about the same amount of meaning as when they say “I’m sorry” - meaning they have learned that is what you say to get out of trouble.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of observing a substitute teacher who used the promise as a way of holding 24 first graders accountable for their actions. At the beginning of class she had everybody hold up their right hand and say “I promise that I will have good manners. I promise.” During class, if anybody acted up they would be met with “are you already breaking your promise?” The class was reminded several times that they were the only ones that could make sure they were behaving well, and that nobody could ever take that away from them. The effects were outstanding. Several teachers poked their heads in to check on the kids and they were amazed at how well the class was behaving.
The fact that she was able to take the generic term of “I promise” and give it meaning is what I think transformed and empowered these kids. I’m not sure if this could translate into other classrooms or even to another day, but for these kids on this day it was really something to see.
What if all education systems, in all schools were equal? Why does the school from the predominantly black neighborhood perform far below the school from the predominantly white neighborhood? Communities are being torn apart because parents are untrusting of the center of their community that should be educating and enriching the lives of those very people who live within it. Parents don’t have a lot of choices when they are searching for the best schools for their children. Can’t move to a better neighborhood, can’t get into a magnet school, or can’t get into a charter school- what’s left? It’s completely unfortunate that lying becomes the best option.
There is something bigger going on here.
