Friday, February 17, 2012
Oddly good behavior
I have one, completely quiet student sitting in my classroom for lunch. And he's reading a book. These past two Fridays have been very strange. Someone needs to investigate what they're putting in the breakfasts on Friday.... actually, now that I think about it, no one needs to investigate that at all. Let's just keep it going.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
And I speak as a proud Catholic
"Time after time, they have rejected compromises on social issues because of fundamentalist rigidity, not Christian engagement with a changing world. They could have agreed, for example, to secular civil unions for gays - and not full "marriage" rights - but instead they insisted that neither were acceptable at all. They could have made a strong and vital case for the immorality and evil of abortion as a civil-rights issue, without demanding it be criminalized by the state. They could have accepted a compromise on contraception in health-care policies, but they have refused...
...And the obsession among Catholic and evangelical leaders with an issue like contraception stands in stark contrast to their indifference to, for example, the torture in which the last administration engaged, the growing social inequality fostered by unfettered capitalism, the Christian moral imperative of universal health care, and the unjust use of the death penalty."
I am in no way trying to start anything here, I just needed to express how wonderful this Newsweek article is. And what does this have to do with teaching? Well, I'm reading the article on my planning period, and let's face it - I deal with the intelligences of 8th graders all day. I needed an intellectually stimulating post.
...And the obsession among Catholic and evangelical leaders with an issue like contraception stands in stark contrast to their indifference to, for example, the torture in which the last administration engaged, the growing social inequality fostered by unfettered capitalism, the Christian moral imperative of universal health care, and the unjust use of the death penalty."
I am in no way trying to start anything here, I just needed to express how wonderful this Newsweek article is. And what does this have to do with teaching? Well, I'm reading the article on my planning period, and let's face it - I deal with the intelligences of 8th graders all day. I needed an intellectually stimulating post.
Monday, February 13, 2012
A healthy classroom, one panther buck at a time.
No, I'm not talking about the way my students treat each other (or me) because that still pretty much sucks. I am talking about what my students eat. I may be kind of sucking as a reading teacher, but I've found a new excitement in teaching my kids how to make healthier eating choices. Realistically, I am probably not going to stop them from bringing a purse full of candy to school or having hot cheetos for breakfast, but I am going to make sure I'm only encouraging healthy decisions.
- Being a role model; anyone that knows me knows I love anything with sugar, particularly because I can eat it for all three meals and never gain a pound. However, more and more students spend lunch in my classroom now, and it's very contradictory for me to say "don't eat that entire bag of jolly ranchers for breakfast" and then I have a bag of cookies with a side of tootsie rolls at lunch. I've started bringing soley granola bars, fruit, and a real main course at lunch so when my students ask for food, I only have healthy things to give to them (and guess what - they're hungry and they'll eat it!). I gave a granola bar to an unwilling student today (she wanted a bag of chips), and she finally ate it and came back to me and said "Ms. Gauthier, that bar thing was actually really good!" Winning.
- Encouraging healthy choices through panther bucks; Yes, those little slips of aper I give out for good behavior that practically cause a daily riot in my classroom because goodness forbid, I passed a student up who swears he or she was on task! They trade them in at the end of the week for candy, chips, and poweraids because I was under the assumption that's the only thing that would motivate them. Actually, yet again, my students surprise me, and they in fact, do like healthy things - they're just not going to eat them as a default (oh, students, I do empathize with you). Therefore, I'm starting to do what the government doesn't have the balls to do: all the new healthy things at my panther buck store are going to be dirt cheap, whereas the healthy chips and candy prices are going to be jacked way up to encourage healthy buying. I know this isn't teaching them real-life, but hopefully I will enstill the idea in their mind that it is more worthwhile to go for the healthy choice. And if they want to still choose unhealthy, hey, it's gonna cost them.
- CALLING ALL 8TH GRADERS (or those of us that still think like an 8th grader); my students have given me some ideas of healthy things they actually do like (and are realistic to sell to students during the last 10 minutes of class on Fridays) such as oranges (like the little cuties ones that come in the bags), granola bars. BUT I NEED MORE IDEAS. What do middle school/ high school students like they are actually healthy and do not cost Ms. Gauthier a fortune to buy every week. Comments would be appreciated on this post, with any ideas that you have!
- Being a role model; anyone that knows me knows I love anything with sugar, particularly because I can eat it for all three meals and never gain a pound. However, more and more students spend lunch in my classroom now, and it's very contradictory for me to say "don't eat that entire bag of jolly ranchers for breakfast" and then I have a bag of cookies with a side of tootsie rolls at lunch. I've started bringing soley granola bars, fruit, and a real main course at lunch so when my students ask for food, I only have healthy things to give to them (and guess what - they're hungry and they'll eat it!). I gave a granola bar to an unwilling student today (she wanted a bag of chips), and she finally ate it and came back to me and said "Ms. Gauthier, that bar thing was actually really good!" Winning.
- Encouraging healthy choices through panther bucks; Yes, those little slips of aper I give out for good behavior that practically cause a daily riot in my classroom because goodness forbid, I passed a student up who swears he or she was on task! They trade them in at the end of the week for candy, chips, and poweraids because I was under the assumption that's the only thing that would motivate them. Actually, yet again, my students surprise me, and they in fact, do like healthy things - they're just not going to eat them as a default (oh, students, I do empathize with you). Therefore, I'm starting to do what the government doesn't have the balls to do: all the new healthy things at my panther buck store are going to be dirt cheap, whereas the healthy chips and candy prices are going to be jacked way up to encourage healthy buying. I know this isn't teaching them real-life, but hopefully I will enstill the idea in their mind that it is more worthwhile to go for the healthy choice. And if they want to still choose unhealthy, hey, it's gonna cost them.
- CALLING ALL 8TH GRADERS (or those of us that still think like an 8th grader); my students have given me some ideas of healthy things they actually do like (and are realistic to sell to students during the last 10 minutes of class on Fridays) such as oranges (like the little cuties ones that come in the bags), granola bars. BUT I NEED MORE IDEAS. What do middle school/ high school students like they are actually healthy and do not cost Ms. Gauthier a fortune to buy every week. Comments would be appreciated on this post, with any ideas that you have!
Friday, February 10, 2012
Mentoree
I have a mentor teacher!!!! And she's going to actually get someone to get me new computers to replace the broken ones in my classroom!
Yes, I was supposed to be assigned a mentor teacher at the beginning of the school year, but you know, better late than never? I am so excited to fianlly, actually maybe talk to someone at this school that knwos what the heck she's doing (because I guess of all my friends here, I have a tendency to pair up with the ones who equally don't know what the hell they're doing). We'll see how this plays out, but we do have a meeting set up for next week, so it's a start.
Yes, I was supposed to be assigned a mentor teacher at the beginning of the school year, but you know, better late than never? I am so excited to fianlly, actually maybe talk to someone at this school that knwos what the heck she's doing (because I guess of all my friends here, I have a tendency to pair up with the ones who equally don't know what the hell they're doing). We'll see how this plays out, but we do have a meeting set up for next week, so it's a start.
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