I visited my dad and Khadija last week. The school district had the entire week off, and it’s not often I have the luxury to travel to the Great White North. And it was indeed white there, and cold. But I was prepared, with boots and mittens and a warm hat and a scarf and […]
Monthly Archives: November 2018
Lethargy
Sun, 18 Nov 2018, 06:40 PM (-06:00)
The second Pyracantha gave up the ghost this summer. The first one died years ago. Neither of them was in a good place, planted under the eves where even when it rained they probably got no water. The passing of the first one never bothered me, and the demise of the second was neither a […]
Old, Bad Habits
Sat, 17 Nov 2018, 09:25 PM (-06:00)
In the mornings in his room, you’ll find boxes of donuts. They are available free for the taking, although you have to buy a napkin. One morning last week, I walked into his room to fill out a form. Some kids were sitting at a lab table, huddled around a 3D printer. They were eating […]
Driving Into the Darkness
Fri, 16 Nov 2018, 08:53 PM (-06:00)
Tonite I drove into the darkness. Under the overpass. Around the turn. Past the corner where the street lamp shines. Up the ramp. Into the darkness. The city was shining in the distance. Skyscrapers punctuating the black along the river. Over the bridge. My exit approached. In no time, I was speeding back thru the […]
Group Work
Sun, 11 Nov 2018, 10:25 PM (-06:00)
We did nothing but work quadratic formula problems on Friday. I let the students self-organize. Some chose to work alone. Others worked in groups. I gave each group a different problem. It was a smashing success. The students were mostly engaged and focused non-stop for fifty minutes. The room was noisy. But the talk was […]
On Reading
Sun, 11 Nov 2018, 03:27 PM (-06:00)
I was observing another teacher’s classroom a few weeks ago. They were studying forms of government — anarchy, theocracy, monarchy, democracy, … The discussions that flowed in that class were nothing like what we get in mine. After all, how excited can students get discussing how the discriminant in the quadratic formula determines the number […]
Noticing the Pens
Sun, 11 Nov 2018, 02:05 PM (-06:00)
“Mister, where do you get your pens?” someone asked. Later that day, another student asked the same thing. They’ve seen me using these for some time, now. When I’m at the document camera writing guided notes, I use colors to emphasize where things come from — to show what’s being substituted where. And I use them […]