In Defense of the Unplanned Teacher

I did not "plan" on teaching Edgar Allen Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum, but then I found these amazing resources. The first video is of a three year old child that is reciting Litany by Billy Collins. This will turn into a lesson where students themselves will memorize a poem.


Plus this fantasticness from the always amazing Richard Byrne: Interactive Comic for the Pit and the Pendulum

Now I will jam all of this greatness somewhere into my grade 8 class. I found it while reading my RSS aggregator on the weekend, and now I will use it.

That is two classes, at least, that popped out of nowhere. These days teachers should remain a little bit unplanned. The flow of information is so insanely fast that teachers should leave a majority of space, that's right a majority, open to the new ideas that arrive online every single day.

Information is becoming increasingly asynchronous, thus the well-planned teacher is going to miss the most relevant movement that is happening with the flow of knowledge.

In defense of the unplanned teacher. Look around, and don't plan too much.

Where is the Love?

Now that I have started using positive media clips to start my classes I don't think I am going to stop.

My A.P. gave the staff an article about focusing on the positive in our teaching practice and reflecting on the reason why we arrived in this profession in the first place.

The three ideas here are perfectly connected. When I start the class with a little love or with a little laughter or a little joy, that is what I get in return. The entire day is impacted by the positive message, and the students themselves become more positive.

Really that is why we started this thing anyway. To make this world a better place, and the best way to do that is to spread some love around. God I love my job.

My First Blog Post

My website randomness for nobody was not really doing the trick with trying to be a contributing member of the interwebs, so I thought - start a blog. I want my students to blog and I should really get into the habit of practicing what I preach. Here I will do a few things: 1)share resources 2)talk about education 3)reflect on my experience as a teacher.

My talk about education could get a little snide, we will see. For example a topic that I would like to discuss is this business of long-term sick leave. How can teachers get away with taking a month (usually much more) off of work because they are "stressed"?

I know I can get in trouble for this, but shouldn't long-term leave be reserved for those with real problems like cancer treatment or a terrible accident. How can professionals be okay with taking a month off of work? The job is hard, deal with it or quit.

How's that for setting the tone. There is some comfort in the anonymity that writing a blog that no one will ever read brings. Oh yes, it is out there, but I doubt anyone will see it.

No for something valuable:
Richard Byrne at Free Tech. For Teachers is an ed. tech. blogger internet pwning professional role model. I should really take this 7 billion people in the world lesson and go with it already. tik tok Steve,maybe sometime before 8 billion whadya say? A party for seven billion.

Another site I have seriously under utilized by not using it a lick - Khan academy. I won't bother linking direct to it because really - you should know about it already. Here is how it could work in the classroom from Journey in Technology.

And finally, let's hope my simple whole wheat bread turns out today. Is it possible to be nostalgic for a time without the internet while it continues to dominate my life. Have a great day.