All content at Teaching Equals by Nathan and Julia is licensed under a Creative Commons License. 
The next best thing since Google. Okay that’s a total lie. Google is way better! We just tell you stories and hope you laugh. You’d probably throw stuff at us instead. Regardless, we hope you find something interesting here…
Whoever said that teaching has to be hard work? Well speaking from experience, it is. You go in early than you're supposed to. Your planning is barely enough to scrape together anything resembling a lesson. You leave later than you're supposed to. Then you work once you're at home. You wake up the next morning having dreamed about tomorrow's lesson. That's a whole lot of work, and the craziest part is that the actual teaching comes second to the work. You know what I'm talking about. Instead of having time to really tutor a student on a concept, you're too busy picking...
So I got to thinking (I know it's amazing news) about how we as teacher spend so much of our time correcting behavior. However, I have never really stopped to think what I'm trying to correct that behavior towards. What I'm saying is that most of the time we know exactly what makes a "bad" kid, but I don't think I've really have sat down to think about what makes a "good" student. Now without degrading into a pointless discussion about the absurdity of dualism, I think that we spend too much time separating students into categories of good and bad....
Holy Moo Moo, how many times have you heard that question after you just taught the class how to multiply polynomials or how to graph a line using slope-intercept form? The answer is, in all honesty, NEVER. So what's the point? Why teach these kids something they'll never use unless they somehow get inspired to become an Algebra teacher at a local high school? It's a battle I fight everyday in my Algebra 1 classroom. One day this past week, I just broke down and told the students sitting in their cute little desks with their confused, beady white eyes, that...
I'm studying classroom discipline and management for my master's class. So far it's been really helpful. I've learned several new things that have been very useful in the classroom. We are currently looking at various discipline models and the philosophies of dealing with student behavior. I am frustrated by the models I'm finding available. Each seem to have their faults, and they send my brain reeling into philosophical arguments on the benefits of different methods. I thought I'd take a minute to express these observations I've made. Consider this an ongoing observation of discipline. I may revisit this topic again...
I'm quickly coming to the conclusion that you have to be a little bit crazy to teach. From being called an asshole to cleaning up chewing tobacco out of my sinks, there have been days. Oh yes, there have been days! At times I think they're all out to get me. Sometimes it's just a matter of counting down the minutes to 3 o'clock. Luckily it's not always that bad. Actually the majority of time things are fun in the classroom. So much of my experience thus far has been working to just survive. From the impossibly complicated task of keeping up...
All content at Teaching Equals by Nathan and Julia is licensed under a Creative Commons License.