May 2013
1 post
April 2013
18 posts
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Adventures in Substitute Teaching: Confiscating...
You see, I noticed this when I read WITH my students:
1. I read along with them so I can help pronounce words.
2. While reading, sometimes the students will distract other students while my head is in the book.
3. Students will hide their cell phones in their books.
Then I figured there is an advantage to playing the audio version of a book in class and have the students read along:
1. It...
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Adventures in Substitute Teaching: You're all...
In my previous post I decided to differentiate my To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM) lesson for the 8 out of 185 students who claim to have read the book two or three times.
In speaking with our Department Chair, he suggested the students read TKAM again because, like anyone else, we would find ourselves finding new information and new perspectives.
I told my students who already read the book that...
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Adventures in Substitute Teaching: To Kill A...
As we get closer to the end of the school-year, I decided that my last assignment for my students will include the reading of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
I have not given my students any homework up until now and though they are not happy with my decision, they understand (at least under their sighs and behind their rolling of their eyes) that it is necessary to finish the book...
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Teachit Timer →
Lately I have been doing whole group activities to kill time between testing. Unfortunately, I discovered how stressful it can be to try to monitor time and the activity while looking at the second hand on our classroom’s analog clock, or the inconvenience of relying on my cell phone’s timer.
My students seem to respond to the interactive whiteboard material pretty well. I did a good...
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Adventures in Substitute Teaching: "You never...
Today my students took the State Test in Language Arts.
It was my first-time to administer a test.
It is also the day a student accused me of not teaching them the material on the test.
It was also the day a student came into my defense stating that if they only paid attention in class students would have actually learned something.
It was also the day I met with a teacher who can...
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QUESTION: What shall I teach during testing?
Our students go into the California Standards Tests (CST) this week. I will only be testing my first period and my other class periods will be testing with their first periods for about 8 days.
After testing, the students return to their other class periods in which I was told to “not start a new lesson” and to “review some material” and to do some “light...
Anonymous asked: Hi! I've been substitute teaching for a few months while I work my way into writing and journalism. It's not what I want to do forever but I like connecting with the kids a lot and I strive to be great at my job. Today I took over for a high school teacher and was so overwhelmed for various reasons that I got all choked up and started to cry. The kids definitely knew what was up, though...
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Adventures in Substitute Teaching: Scattergories...
Eversince the Weed Incident of 2013 happened, I felt that my students did not deserve any more “free days” time.
But, dammit, I am me and I gave them another one.
This time, the students played my version of Hasbro’s board game, Scattergories. It is a word game, one everyone can do, and is relatively competitive.
Same concept as the actual game, I just differentiated the...
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WEBSITE: Special Education Terms and Definitions →
Here you go! A quick reference to help you get through some unique IEP terminology. You’re welcome.
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Adventures in Substitute Teaching: Waking up.
I remember the days when I did not want to wake up early (like 5AM early) because I HAD to go to work. Now I know what it feels like to wake up early (like 5AM…okay, honestly, 5:45AM) because I not only HAVE TO work, but I actually WANT to go to work.
Over the hump, ladies and gentlemen. Happy Wednesday!
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Adventures in Substitute Teaching: The April...
I pulled an April Fools’ prank on my students today. Then they called me mean.
I had this all planned out last night, unfortunately I did not wake up early enough to get to my class and set it up the way I wanted.
PLAN: On the right-side of the board I wrote “March Movie Madness Monday: Lets vote on a movie to watch”. Then I would write ‘Just Kidding’ behind...
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March 2013
11 posts
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Adventures in Substitute Teaching: Seating Chart...
I decided to create a new seating chart for my students, but for me to make this work it required some strategic planning, patience, trial and error, and observation of the natural teenage student environment.
Wow. I apologize. I did not mean for all of that to sound like a science project.
In all my experience in substitute teaching I have noticed that students do not respond to change all...
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Adventures in Substitute Teaching: Welcome Back,...
I spent all of my Spring Break week plus the first two days of school AFTER Spring Break in New York.
I just got back yesterday.
Today was the first day back in the classroom.
Not only was my vacation in New York WONDERFUL, it definitely was a long enough break and escape from the classroom. Upon my return the students were happy to see me. Mainly because the students disliked the Substitute...
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Adventures in Substitute Teaching: The Weed...
Earlier this week it was my birthday. Whenever my birthday lands on a school day I treat my students to a treat, whether it was a classroom I was in for a day, week, month, or year. I genuinely enjoy celebrating my birthday with my students.
This year, I celebrated my birthday by serving my students (yup, each class of 35+ students) Oreo cookies. In addition I had a sorta “free day”...
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A State Backs Guns in Class for Teachers →
*raise eyebrow*
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Dropout Reasons: There is no single reason. →
Here is an interesting look at reasons why students drop out from BoostUp.org. It provides a bit of insight to help anyone consider creating preventive measures. It also may also provide an understanding for one or two students of your own students.
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Taking myself out on a date.
thegrownuplife:
Getting up, getting dressed, breakfast, museum, walk in the park.
Disclaimer: I also have to work, but I’ll do that AFTER my date.
You know, I have not done with for a while. Time to take myself out on a little date.
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10 Questions to Ask of Your Child's After School... →
Education.com posted this a while back, but they are great questions to ask yourself about any after school program you would like to enroll your child in. In addition, educators in the after school program should consider answering these questions in their own programs. These are excellent and legitimate questions any parent should ask and a quality program should be able to accommodate the...
February 2013
26 posts
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Adventures in Substitute Teaching: Babies in the...
When a student waves a sheet of paper in front of my face and then I snarl at them to put it on my desk, it is usually a permission slip letting me know they are going to be absent. Past permission slips included events for JROTC, a sports competition, or an AVID field trip to a college.
Recently, permission slips have been flooding in for permission to bring a baby into the classroom. Not an...
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Adventures in Substitute Teaching: After school...
A student decided to stop by my class after-school. I was in the middle of creating a Romeo and Juliet worksheet when he stepped into my class. Normally I would stop my work and ask the student to leave, I had work to do, but I allowed procrastination to win me over.
He was waiting for his girlfriend and worked on homework in another classroom. When that teacher left his classroom, he walked...
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Cleaning out my closet.
In reflecting on an earlier post and reading about what teachers have been wearing in the classroom, I took the time to look at my own closet and wondered what I would keep and donate.
Plus, my mom made a comment about how I improved my own attire which made me think how (and be thankful for) my job as a substitute teacher has helped me with my wardrobe change.
I essentially wear the same...
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LESSON PLANNING: Comic Strip layouts and... →
Print out any of these comic strip PDF printables from Donna Young’s Homeschool Resources and Printables for an alternative language arts lesson.
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Cell phones in the classroom
I am curious to know what are your rules and expectations (overall classroom management) regarding the use of cell phones (or iPods) in the classroom. I met one teacher who allows students to use their cell phones in class to “tweet” responses to a daily journal response and I also met a teacher who allows students to listen to music from their iPods or phones while writing.
With...
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LESSON PLANNING: Foldables
I am a sucker for foldables, I really am, but I have learned that it takes a greater deal of patience, time, and practice to even teach my students how-to learn and create various foldables. And so, I decided to share some of the resources I found online if ever you should want to create foldable projects in your classroom. I have not tried all of these yet, but maybe you can find that patience,...
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