L2Teach

This House is Better than New: We are selling our house

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 18:33:28 -0500

This House is Better than New: We are selling our house:

Despite the rough housing market, we are selling our house in Central Florida. We bought the house 4-1/2 years ago at more than our asking price, so this house is a steal. It was built by Lennar in 2005. It is a great two-story house with 3,254 square feet under heat and air. The downstairs…

This House is Better than New: We are selling our house

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 18:44:52 -0400

This House is Better than New: We are selling our house:

liveinflorida:

Despite the rough housing market, we are selling our house in Central Florida. We bought the house 4-1/2 years ago at more than our asking price, so this house is a steal. It was built by Lennar in 2005. It is a great two-story house with 3,254 square feet under heat and air. The downstairs…

notyourpanda: Took a seminar on using technology in the...

Sun, 09 Sep 2012 16:47:23 -0400

notyourpanda:

Took a seminar on using technology in the classroom today. This was a list of apps that are beneficial to different stages of learning.

And tumblr is on it. lol.

The presenter also suggested a very interesting method of getting questions/input during the class without stopping for every question: having students tweet their biggest questions to a Twitter account made for the class, and then address the important ones as you give your lecture/allow fellow students to answer one another. Just a very different approach at using technology during the class to add another dimension to a lecture/make it more interactive.

9 Amazing Word Cloud Generators For The Classroom

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 15:12:13 -0400

9 Amazing Word Cloud Generators For The Classroom:

world-shaker:

Here are three (click through for the rest):

Tagul - Tagul has some features that Wordle doesn’t, like custom shapes selection and multiple fonts usage in one cloud. It also allows for the use of tagged words that can act as pointers to URL’s if embedded in a web page. It abounds in options but registration may limit classroom use. Requires a log in with email.

Word It Out - Much like Wordle, it creates word clouds out of any text that you paste into the text box. This application allows the word cloud to be customized by size, font, and color scheme. Word It Out also allows the user to ignore certain words and thus keeps them out of the word cloud. Can be used without a login, although the saving option requires an email. Can work around this option by right clicking to save as jpeg and/or screen print.

Tag Crowd - While it does not give the color,unique style, or layout variation of of Wordle, it does allow one to see frequency of words. It also allows a file to be uploaded or a URL address to be used. The word cloud creations can be saved as a PDF files or printed from a full screen print menu. No login or email is required and free use of the product is for nonprofit use listed under creative commons.

adventuresinlearning: via (Making Education Work)

Sat, 12 May 2012 07:56:07 -0400

adventuresinlearning:

via (Making Education Work)

adventuresinlearning: Via Edutopia

Tue, 01 May 2012 19:22:27 -0400

adventuresinlearning:

Via Edutopia

Photo

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:38:58 -0400

Photo

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 21:10:38 -0400

suzanrose: Not a weapon. I’m a teacher. I teach young people...

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 21:01:40 -0400

suzanrose:

Not a weapon.

I’m a teacher. I teach young people like Trayvon. It could have been one of my students. We are all, every one of us, accountable to make sure this does not happen again. We start by demanding justice. We continue by demanding change.

My son is about the same size and build as Trayvon. He wears hoodies. We live in a neighborhood similar to Trayvon’s. My son walks home, in the rain, wearing a hoodie. My son is not black. That is the only difference. When do we, as a nation, realize that young black teenage boys are the same as all young teenage boys? What kind of society does not protect it’s children? What kind of society allows innocent teenage boys to be gunned down in the street? What does this say about us? Yes, many voices are demanding justice, but the killer is still free and uncharged in this crime. Voices are raised in protest, but we wait, impatiently, angrily, for justice to be done.

If today, it is okay to kill Trayvon, then who will be killed tomorrow? How many more of our children will be killed, terrorized? How many more? How large does this evil need to get before we say, as one voice, NO MORE.

We MUST protect our children. ALL of our children. Our children need to be safe. The time is now. It is up to us. This must not happen again.

"Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers."

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:10:50 -0500

“Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers.”

- Josef Albers

Nervous Breakdown

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 18:27:47 -0500

I nearly had a nervous breakdown AGAIN today. It seems like I almost have nervous breakdowns, but I never actually achieve one. I sometimes think I would like to have a nervous breakdown. It seems kind of nice the thought of curling up into a ball and having somebody else worry about me for a while.

I spend a lot of time worrying about other people and their mess. I would like to have nothing to worry about sometimes. Is that strange to want to have a nervous breakdown?

I sometimes want to be sick for the same reason. I sometimes secretly wish I would get sick so I could legitimately stay home and somebody could take care of me. But then, when I really do actually get sick, I go to work anyway. It is way more difficult to miss work than to go to work if you’re sick.

Most people who criticize teachers don’t realize that. They think that we are lazy, but the truth is many teachers, myself included, work when they are sick, because it is just too difficult to prepare for your absence. If I am going to be absent I need to make sure I have a lesson that will keep the students very busy but not too difficult because then they won’t do it at all. The last thing a substitute teacher needs is kids that are either confused…or lacking in something to do. Kids with nothing to do destroy things. So I have to find the perfect lesson/activity for my absence. Then, because I teach science I have a ton of stuff all over the place all of the time, so I have to clean up everything. I have to LOCK up some stuff. Then I have to write out all the instructions clearly so there is no confusion. Then I have to procure a substitute teacher. Its all too exhausting. If I am sick I usually just go in to work anyway, and have the students do something that doesn’t require too much of my time…like a quiz or a video.

Too bad I can’t do that with life at home….figure out something I can do so that I can check out for a little while. That nervous breakdown sounds like a good plan again.

Getting Started

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 15:43:42 -0500

I decided to start “tumbling” today when my daughter shared with me how tumblr can be useful for sharing all kinds of information. I have thinking for a while about having a place where I can vent my thoughts and feelings about the state of public education and what they are doing to teachers. I suppose this is as good a place as any to do that.

I have been a public educator for 17 years. I suppose that I have become that old voice saying, “remember when” or “back in my day”, but education really has changed a lot in the 17 years I’ve been teaching. I don’t think any of the changes make things better for kids. The powers that be want to make the classroom more like a factory for robotic teachers and robotic kids.

I want to use this tumblr space to work out my thoughts about every day things in my teaching life. There seem to be a lot of changes coming quickly now.

I know it’s an old meme, but it is still true.

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 14:57:45 -0500

I know it’s an old meme, but it is still true.

Add to that: no science fair, forget about sports events,...

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 14:40:08 -0500

Add to that: no science fair, forget about sports events, dances, field trips, back-to-school nights…

"Once children learn how to learn, nothing is going to narrow their mind. The essence of teaching is..."

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 14:30:02 -0500

“Once children learn how to learn, nothing is going to narrow their mind. The essence of teaching is to make learning contagious, to have one idea spark another.”

- Marva Collins