The Chalkboard Corner

Losing my grandpop in the middle of the semester has been really hard on me. He passed away on Saturday, Spetember 27, 2008. I know that people knew we would lose him soon because he was in the hospital two weeks before and there was nothing that could be done. He has had many surgeries in the past, but no matter what he kept having heart attacks.

This past week has been a big ordeal. There have been countless nights of not sleeping well, resulting in me being very tired. I have been so upset in fact, I didnt even want to come to school. Every night, there have been boxes of pictures to go through, each of them divided among my dad and his three brothers. Each night, i went through the pictures and thought of memories for each one. That kept me up pretty late.

The night of the viewing was a long one. People came in for hours, and all we did was cry. Today at the funeral, no one was consolable. We all were so upset at losing a grandfather, father and father-in-law. it took a lot of strength for me to come to class, or even attempt to do the homework.

In the picture above, my grandpop is in the middle at the bottom row.

This is a video with quotes by famous writers. They talk about how to become better writers.

I thought that this video was kind of cute. it was to the tune of Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer, but was really all about grammar. I think that this would be more geared toward upper elementary students and middle school students

I found this website with lesson plan templates. It offers such things for elementary and up, and a daily planner for every day use.

According to  Warren Throckmorton youtube posted videos containing the idea of “white supremecy.” Therse were a part of “It’s Elementary,” a video series for teachers made about 10 years ago.

Check it out for yourself.

Here is an article written to parents about their children in the classroom. As teachers, we need to get the parents of our elementary students as involved as possible. They need to know what the student has for homework, and give them one on one time to help them with any problems they may be having. Many of the punishments given in Elementary School could have been avoided if the parent was on top of their child with homework and discipline.

Click here to view the article

            I really enjoyed the article “I’m so Totally, Digitally Close to You.” Until this article, I never even realized the point of status updates on facebook. I just saw them as annoying little messages that I receive telling me that Dana is getting wasted when I’m at home studying. They brought me more jealousy than anything most of the time.

            Now, I look at the status updates differently. The article was talking about the updates bringing people closer. It’s neat, because if you follow someone’s updates all day long, it feels as though you never actually left them. You know the minor details of everything they did all day, and you can do that with any of your friends on facebook. I now see the status updates as an opportunity to get to know my friends better, and get caught up with them, without even having to meet up with them. They are an conversation starter with those who I have not seen in a long time. I can say, “hey how was that concert?” I knew it took place even thought I haven’t talked to them in a few months.

            Because school has taken up so much of my time, I don’t get a lot of time to be with many of my friends. I have been taking opportunities to check out my friends’ updates and try to get back in contact with many of my friends, or at least start. It’s really cool to me because even my friends that go to college in a different state can seem so close, because I almost feel like I’ve been alongside them all day long.  

In the observations I have done so far, I have seen a lot of teachers and heard them talk to each other during lunch and prep time.  The main thing teachers talk about are the one thing they all deal with day in and day out: the students.

Many times teachers talk about the children who give them problems, and discuss ways to help them or get them to do better in general. Collaboration can be a very good way to do a better job in any profession. Yet, there is a difference between collaboration and gossip.

I once heard a teacher say, “Oh I can’t stand __. Her –grade teacher couldn’t stand her, and all her — teacher could not stand her. She has nothing going for her. She’s not good at anything. Nothing!”

I thought that was so cruel. I may naturally just be a positive person, but that was just mean. If you love children, you should be able to find something good about every child. Also, if she does give you problems, at a young age, it may not be her fault. Many times students have a very rough home life which affects their ability to perform in the classroom.

As a teacher, I need to remember that gossiping about my students does not help anyone. Even if all the other teachers are talking badly about one student, there is no reason for me to jump in. If I want to collaborate that’s fine, but there is no reason to talk nasty about the students.

If you need songs for your early childhood classroom, here is a good website!

Things are changing very much in different school districts.  Some school websites want their staffs lesson plans posted and visible to the public.  Others have the entire districts curriculum and objectives for the school year.  Last semester I was placed in Pitman School District where their curriculum is posted.  Each teacher also now has their own website which is new this year.