Permanent Marker causes student to be arrested

Actually, that should read possession of permanent marker causes student to be arrested.

Apparently it bothered the the teacher that the permanent marker bled through paper to the the desk so she had the middle schooler arrested.

What a jackwagon.

Step closer, grasshopper, and let me give you some VERY useful tips.

First, Fabuloso. This stuff is awesome at cleaning desks and walls. And it smells like oranges.

Second, your handy dandy dry erase marker. (I know you all will try this - it is ok. I promise it works) Color the permanent marker with dry erase. And wipe. Sometimes you have to do it a couple of times.

Having used a permanent marker on a white board before, this is useful to know.

So, wish I could have told the jackwagon teacher before she decided to be a dipwad.

Merry Christmas!!!

I don't know how good a friend I am

I try to be there for my friends when they need me but the jobs I pick, including teaching currently, seem to get in the way of being there.

A friend will have a biopsy on the day school starts back.

I know before I even ask that I will not be allowed to miss it, even though there are no students.

This sucks.

Cell phones in the classroom

I just read a comment from one of our Board members that, since the policy on cell phones will change in January, the teachers should use the cell phones as learning devices.

One more thing they expect us to incorporate on the fly with no resources.

But, being game I found an article that discussed cell phones as a learning tool.

It turns out there is an app called Math4Mobile, which has a lot of math tools built in.

I also found a program used in North Carolina, also discussed here.

So, do any of you in Blog land use phones as learning tools?

Latest Stupidity

A student sent me a link of a YouTube video he had made. From there it was possible for me to find 3 other students - and listen to some of their profound thoughts.

I assume they have never been told - or do not believe - that what goes onto the internet never really goes away.

Some of this is going to come back to haunt them.

If you knew the content of the state mandated test, would you share?

If you had seen the test, would you share the kinds of questions with other teachers?

In a lot of states, the tests are released so I guess you could teach to the test. I know New York and Virginia do.

It always seemed more difficult to teach to the test than to teach the material - what do you do? "The answer to this question is C"?

But I digress.

In Georgia, we cannot see the test. We see the released questions - these are the ones that were too hard, too easy, or poorly written. In any case, they are the questions that everyone got - or no one got, so they are no longer used.

Real useful.

I know percentages. But they are not useful. "30% of this test will be Algebra."

I want to know what they think these tests are testing. Do they think they test our ability to teach? The students ability to think? The teachers ability to forecast what is on the test?

If you knew something that could help other teachers in your school so they could help their students, would you? Or would you hold it close to the vest so you look like a better teacher?

Discovering math

I know what works.

I know how to teach.

I can't teach to the test (that is a blog coming soon) even if I wanted to.

BUT

I am going to be judged on how I teach math as a discovery lesson. Refusing to answer their questions, doing student discovery groups with minimal teacher direction EVEN THOUGH WE KNOW THAT THE GROUP WITH THE MOST DIFFICULTY IN THE SUBJECT (black males) LEARN BEST IN A TRADITIONAL WAY.

Really soon, I will be replaced by a parapro.

Why do you need a certified math teacher to teach a math class when you want them to teach it to themselves without books?

John Spencer writes that if you teach the students the material, they can pass the test.

I watch the students I have struggle with this whole concept. Not of my teaching - but of my requiring them to "find" it. They want direction.

SO

As a teacher I am balancing what they want against what the administration wants.

I know the importance of a good education.

I know how to behave in class - even if I think the teacher is a moron.

I am struggling with teaching students who do not want to be there.

I agree that discovery math works if the students want to discover.

How can it work if they use the "discovery" time to socialize? If they think they can fix a semester of not doing anything with a week or a day at the end?

Six Word Saturday

I hate when kids fail me.



For more Six Word Saturday participants, click here.

I realize they are the ones failing - that I didn't fail them. I wish sometimes that I was Mr. Chips, or Dumbledore, or Jean Brodie or someone special who could inspire them - or that I could find the special button for each one.

I was cussed out yesterday for failing someone who doesn't come to school, doesn't stop talking when she is here and thinks she can pay attention to math while talking about this ho or that.

But I made the only decision possible.

I had others not come the last possible day to pass. And two that I had to fill out their failure cards before the realized I wasn't kidding.

Arrghh.

Two weeks and we start again.